Queen of Hearts
by deppdependant
Summary: *SEQUEL TO LUCKY 13* Criss Angel & Sarah continue to fight to defend their relationship to the end while trying to focus on their career goals & their up & comming new future together. Is it really all that easy or will past demons come back into play?
1. Intro

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel To Lucky 13**

**Intro**

_

* * *

__Dad, _

_I really, really hope you don't flip when you open this letter… but yes, the invite is as true and as plain as day, Criss and I are getting married a week from today. I'm sorry I didn't give you more of a notice. We are hoping that you will attend. Please know that I do love and miss you and I'm sorry if am I "disappointing" you but I know that deep down in my heart Criss is 'the one' for me, no matter what your opinion is. I feel like-_

My hand paused for a moment trying to think of what else to write but my mind was drawing a sudden blank. The pen tapped loudly on the front cover of the notebook as I drew in a deep breath.

"Forget it…" I muttered as I crinkled the note and tossed it on the side of the couch.

_I'll just send the invite, no letter. It was too awkward explaining myself to a piece of paper anyway._

My cell phone woke me out of my emotional daze causing me jump and nearly scrap my tongue against the envelope as I was sealing it.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey babe, did you get done packing yet?" Criss asked on the other line.

I nodded to the phone as I stood up and collected the ball of notebook paper from between the couch cushions.

"Yeah, just about. What time are you gonna be back?" I questioned.

"I should be home around midnight as long as this last take doesn't too much more time, something's going wrong with our back up fire crew, we've been waiting for them all damn day. I'm about ready to start without them, but my crew won't let me, of course…" Criss sighed and I could hear J.D. in the background arguing with someone over what sounded like gasoline.

My hands traced over the invite one last time before I set it down on the kitchen counter.

"Alright, well… just be SAFE, I want you to wait until they get there as well." I replied.

Criss muttered something and then hollered something to J.D. about needing more barrels of gas in order to keep the fire going for a longer duration.

"_I DON'T care what the fucking cost is per barrel, just get it already! _I'm sorry Sarah, these guys are killing me today. I will be home no later than midnight though, I promise. I can't take much more of this shit." Criss groaned.

Midnight came and went and by the time it had I was packed and ready to go for Chicago. I had even gotten Criss half packed but I wasn't too sure what all he wanted to wear so I would have to wait for him to stress over his attire when he got home. _If he ever got home. _Our flight was planned for the next day (Saturday) at noon and we were to be spending the week in Chicago before our wedding to collaborate with everyone and over everything. Elaine and Chester were of course coming with us. Elaine was actually my maid of honor. In some respects I think she was more excited about me getting married than I was. I was thrilled that I was going to be going home and that I would have that much time to spend with my family and my old friends but at the same time I was nervous as all hell. The days were going by so fast I could hardly breathe without 15 minutes getting lost.

Criss finally came tip-toeing into bed around 2am. Usually I would be on his case but from the sound of his phone call earlier it seemed like he had a rough enough day.

"Sarah?" He whispered as he headed out of the bathroom.

I rolled over sluggishly. "Yeah…"

"Were you asleep?" He asked quietly.

"No, not yet." I replied while my legs buried themselves deeper into the folds of the comforter.

Criss crawled into bed and laid along side of me, his left arm tucking itself underneath my neck.

"I'm sorry I'm so late. I really am. There were things that I just couldn't control today." He yawned lightly.

Running my hand through his hair I replied, "It's okay. I understand."

Criss cuddled closer against my body and I propped my leg onto his thigh trying to get comfortable in our embrace.

"Ouch! Shit!" He flinched the moment I laid the weight of my leg onto his. His right hand grabbed onto my calf and set it back onto the mattress in a fluid motion.

"I'm sorry! What's wrong?" My eyes narrowed his way through the dark.

He rolled onto his back and rubbed at his forehead, seeming to still be in some kind of pain. "I burnt the side of my leg today, that's all."

"That's _all_? Are you okay? Is it okay? Let me see…" I scrambled for the nightstand to turn on the light but Criss grabbed at my elbow.

"It's nothing, really. I'm fine. Injuries happen all the time during Seasons. Trust me I can handle a freaking burn on my leg." He let go of my arm when he was certain I wasn't going to bother with the lamp any more.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, I'm just trying to care. I get worried…"

"There's nothing to worry about." He kissed my cheek and added, "I'm still in one piece."

"For now anyway." I muttered to myself as I watched him roll over, his back facing mine.

That night I had weirdest dream. I dreamt about gasoline barrels full of red roses and human skulls that were lining the inside of a cathedral's walk way up to the alter. In my dream I was standing in the middle of the alter and a priest handed me a pair handcuffs and a timer that read: 0:00. When I pressed START on the timer all of the barrels spilled over, empting what seemed to be a thousand roses and skulls onto the cathedral's floor and pews. I woke up in a cold sweat and glanced over at Criss. He was still out like a light.

**I HOPE YOU ALL LIKED THE 2ND PART OF _LUCKY 13_ SO FAR... PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! **

**Always,**

**Deppdependant**


	2. Chapter 1

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to lucky 13**

**Chap. 2**

If there was anything I really dreaded, that was going to an airport with Criss. Sure we flew first class, sure everything was handled with the best of the best and excreta but somehow it always seemed that the craziest fans were at the airports. Criss would of course spend time talking to them and taking pictures with them but I always felt awkward just standing off in the corner while massive groups of mostly women flocked around him and idolized the shoes he walked in. In all honesty some of the girls actually frightened me. I think some where secretly plotting my death behind their luminous smiles and Criss Angel fan gear. Who knows, maybe I was just paranoid?

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!" A heavy set women wearing pajamas and a pair of scuffed up old Reeboks came running up to Criss the moment we were about to pass through to the terminal. Criss paused and chatted with her a moment while she tried to pace herself enough to have him sign her used airline ticket. I stood in the background noticing the fact a crowd was forming by the second.

"Babe…" I tried to mutter for him to hurry up but he waved me off and continued to talk to the frantic girl.

I glanced around towards the right and noticed what looked a film crew approaching.

"Criss, we've gotta go. We're gonna be late." I sighed as I motioned towards the terminal.

He nodded and hugged the girl one last time. She headed off with her cell phone glued to her ear and her airline ticket waving proudly above her head.

The film crew was making their way in on us and the crowd of people had developed to well over 35.

Criss drew in a deep breath and simply waved at the approaching camera before he grabbed my hand and we hurried onto our plane.

"Are you alright?" Criss questioned as we took our seats.

"I'm fine, I just wasn't in the mood today that's all." I sighed as I browsed though a tropical getaway magazine that was stowed in the seat in front of me.

Criss stretched his legs out and cringed a bit as his thigh rubbed against the armrest. I shot him a concerned look still uneasy about his _mystery _burn. He obviously caught on to my gaze and straightened his posture.

"Whatever, you know I care a lot about my fans… they make me who am today. Next time if _you're_ not in the mood for them then _you_ can just walk away." He muttered as he closed his eyes.

I licked my finger and sharply scanned through the pages of the ritzy magazine.

"Fine."

_Wasn't this plane ride supposed to be exciting and filled with conversation about how thrilled we were to finally be setting a secure future for ourselves?_

_~*~_

When we arrived in Chicago my mom was waiting for us at the airport. I don't think I had even had time to blink before she came running up to us and wrapped her arms around me in the tightest hug imaginable.

"Mom, I-I can't breathe!" I laughed as she planted firm kisses on my cheeks.

"I know hunny, but I don't care!" She finally pulled away and I noticed the tears in her eyes underneath the well lit baggage claim.

Three Security guards surrounded us and Criss's management strolled up to the baggage belt to claim our suitcases.

My mom's eyes bugged a bit as she watched in awe and just as fast as my mom had squeezed the air out of my lungs Criss had become engulfed by more egger fans.

By the time we left the airport it was well past 5pm and I was starved. The three of us headed out to my moms for a quiet home cooked dinner that she planned.

"Where is Chester and Elaine?" My mom questioned as she handed Criss a bowl of mashed potatoes.

"Oh, they aren't going to be arriving until Tuesday night. My family will be in on Wednesday." He explained as he spooned another helping onto his plate.

My mom watched him carefully and I almost chuckled. "You know, I never expected that you actually ate THAT much… you're so thin…"

Criss paused a bit to laugh. "I can't turn this down Linda, your cooking is out of this world."

My mom raised an eyebrow and smiled. "I swear by olive oil."

"Olive oil? I'm in love already! You do know that I'm Greek?" Criss winked.

My eyes rolled as I forked my vegetables.

"Of course I knew _that_! Oh, Sarah… should we tell him the story about when you were a little girl?" Her hazel eyes grew large with excitement.

"Which one?" I asked less than enthused.

"The one about when you went with your friend Kelly to the Greek monastery?" Her voice grew louder.

"Mom, come on… no!" I dropped my fork and waved my hands in protest.

Criss glanced back over to my mom. "Please share, I would to love hear?"

"Sarah was about 10, right? 10?" She turned to me for an answer but I just shrugged.

_She was right, I was 10. _

"And her friend Kelly took her to the Greek orthodox monastery about an hour and a half from here and of course as you know they don't speak much English there, just mostly Greek."

Criss nodded. "It's mostly old Greek so even I don't understand most of it."

"Right, so Kelly and her family were in prayer and Sarah excused herself to use the bathroom but when she asked where it was-"

"MOM!" I waved my hands around again. "SERIOUSLY!"

"No one would tell her a direct answer or in English, so she walked into this room and it turned out to be for storage like you know oils and candles and so fourth… well, she was about to leave the room but she ended up tripping over a, what was it? A um, what was it Sarah?"

"Mom, come on…?"

"Oh yes! It was an actual bible she tripped on and then she knocked over a standing candle which fell onto the organ player!" My mom busted into laughter and I just sat there humiliated.

"Mom, seriously… that is so NOT funny…"

Criss laughed so hard I thought he was going to choke on his food. "Was the organ player alright?"

"Oh, yes… the organ player was Kelly's grandma. She was just fine… she batted the candle out with the spare collection plates." My mom laughed.

"That is so wrong but so hysterical!" Criss chuckled as he glanced over me.

"I'm sorry don't be embarrassed sweetheart, that's not the worst story I have about you, remember the one time when you in preschool you threw up in your crayon box or the one time you thought that the moon was actually a-" My mom ranted and I stood up. "Mom, shut up! We are so over this conversation."

Criss laughed again and grabbed at my hand. "I was enjoying it."

"You were and she was but _I _wasn't… so what I threw up in damn crayon box!"

"Calm down…" My mom sighed as she took another sip of her diet coke.

I sat back down and folded my arms.

"I still love you even if you did almost burn my church!" Criss assured while he crossed himself to lighten the mood.

"How do you say 'I love you' in Greek?" My mom questioned curiously.

Criss grinned as he fidgeted with his napkin. "I love you is, saga po."

My mom leaned into his ear and whispered something that I couldn't make out and Criss grew a large grin.

"Geia sou omorphe! Saga po para polie!" He winked my way and I raised an eyebrow completely confused.

"I said, 'Hello beautiful, I love you very much'." Criss reached across the table and held onto my hand.

My mom widely grinned in the background.

~*~

That night we decided that it would be easier for the two of us to just spend the night at my moms apartment rather than having to get situated again at another hotel. We did have a room booked at the Ritz Carlton Hotel further downtown and Criss's management where already there waiting for us but we both agreed that a quite night low key night would do us some good.

"Goodnight you two, I hope that bed isn't too small, if you need anything Criss Sarah should remember where everything is at." My mom said as she headed off to her room which was only a few feet down the hall.

I nodded and shut the door behind her. It was going to be an adjustment going from a huge king sized bed to a full but I was certain that we could make it no problem. It was odd spending the night in a home instead of a hotel. I had to get used to the smell of cooking instead of freshly starched/bleached linen.

Criss turned his back for a minute as he was getting changed for bed and I found that awkward. Usually he would just tare off his clothes without a second a thought or glance and jump into bed. That night he was being so self conscious and practically cornering himself between the wall and the storage closet.

Sneaking up behind him I placed a hand a his bare back and his shoulders jumped a bit causing him to stubble with his balance while he was stepping out his jeans.

"Hey, come here…" I whispered through the dimly light bedroom.

"Sorry, babe I'm tired." He kicked his jeans up in the air and caught them in a swift motion.

My hands gently massaged his down the small of his back and I leaned closer into his ear. "You are my world you know that?"

Criss continued to fumble with his jeans until they were folded. "Yeah, I know baby."

I reached my arms around him and he drew in a deep breath that seemed staggered.

"What's wrong?" I asked growing impatient that he wouldn't turn around and face me.

"Don't be mad…" He grabbed onto my hands tightly.

"About?" My heart leaped into my throat expecting the worst.

Criss slowly turned to face me and in the dim light I noticed that more than half of his front right body bore what appeared to be 2nd degree burns.

"Shit, oh my God are you okay?!" I nearly screamed.

His thigh was gazed up in bandage and tiny small burns the sizes of half dollars lead up from his hip to his right abdomen all the way to his chest where he another small bandage.

"I'm fine, they should be healed in another week or two. Fully gone in a month I'm sure. I just didn't want to freak you out. I didn't want this happen before the wedding. I'm more pissed off at myself than anything." His eyes drifted away from mine seeming ashamed.

Running a hand through my hair I took in a deep breath and questioned, "How did that happen, what went wrong?"

Criss moved over to the bed and took a seat. "Everything was fine with the stunt until they went to put me out and I think that I actually was wearing a faulty suit or the right side of the suit didn't have enough coating on it. I was on fire for less than 2 minutes it just doesn't add up."

I sat down next to him and started at the wall.

_Who would want to be on fire? Geez, yeah… today I feel like dying. AWESOME! Once again, I found myself questioning his sanity or rather his insanity or his sheer brilliancy or my stupidity…_

_Maybe all of the above?_

"It'll be alright, don't ever be scared to tell me about things like this, I want to know. I mean yeah, I might freak out at times but only because I care about you and I don't like seeing you hurt. However, I understand that the craft that you are in does take a toll on your body and does have a high risk. I am willing to accept that. I love you." I explained.

Criss looked over at me and brushed my hair behind my ear. "These bandages will be off before we say 'I do' say, so help me God. Because right now if it weren't for them and for your mom…" He trailed off and I whispered with a giggle, "I'll nurse you back to health."


	3. Chapter 2

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel To Lucky 13**

**Chap. 2**

The morning I woke to the smell of pancakes and burnt bacon.

_My mom must have been busy in the kitchen again._

Criss's voice cut through my groggy my thoughts as I stretched my way out of bed.

"Shit, Linda what time is it?" I heard him panic from the kitchen.

"I do believe that clock reads a quarter to 10." My mom replied.

_A quarter 'til 10! Crap!_

I scrambled out of the bedroom trying to adjust my bed head and spotted Criss sitting at the kitchen table flipping through his cell phone contacts.

"Good morning sweetheart, I left you a plate in the microwave." My mom smiled brightly.

"Morning mom. Thank you. Criss, did you call the church?" I asked through a yawn.

He shook his head. "No, not yet… right now I'm trying to get a hold of my manager and my fashion designer Laurence. Laurence is flying down here tomorrow to help with the fittings and as for my manager Shane, he is currently on my shit list."

"Shit list? Why is that?" I asked as I popped open the microwave.

"He isn't answering my calls." Criss sighed as he slipped his cell back into his front pocket.

"Hmm, that's unusual, he should be at the Ritz?" I replied as I took a seat next to him at the table.

My mom handed me a fork and questioned. "Do you want orange juice or milk?"

"I can get it mom…" I waved my hand in the air and went to stand up but she already was holding both.

"Fine, orange juice." I laughed.

"I need to get a hold him to make certain that the church is closed off and no T.V. or publicity has access to our wedding unless agreed to, of which I am not agreeing to that, are you?" He questioned.

I shook my head 'no' as my mom handed me my juice.

"Of course not!"

"I also would like for us to be put under your name in the Ritz, I did already request that, but I am not too sure if Shane took care of that as I asked already and I wanted to double check, so we are not going there until I am most certain that it is NOT under my name." Criss continued.

"It shouldn't matter whose name it is under… if people see you, word is going to get around no matter what." I sighed.

Criss rolled his eyes seeming annoyed. "Whatever. At least we wont be getting phone calls wired to the room or craziness."

"Right." I laughed as I took a bite of my bacon. "We do need to stop by the church BY tomorrow, no if ands or buts, we need to get the ball rolling on that…"

My mom cleared her throat in the background. "_I _already called. You are set up for a meeting Monday night at 5pm."

We both turned to look over at her and Criss chuckled softly. "I knew you had a trick up your sleeve."

~*~

Shane finally contacted Criss around noon and confirmed that he did in fact book the hotel room under my name. The first place we stopped was a rental car lot and Criss picked up a brand new 2009 blank Benz SKL. After he toyed around with it for a few on the highway (and got stuck in the dense city traffic) we pulled up to the hotel at around 3pm.

Our room was amazing, _maybe it was just amazing because it wasn't the Luxor _but I was surprised by how beautiful everything was. The hotel was located on top of the Water Tower place which is by the Sears Water Tower and was connected to a French restaurant. Silk literally covered the walls of most every room and the décor had a feel of French, Spanish and European all tastefully wrapped into one. Criss and I stayed in the State Suites which was on the 30th floor and our suite was literally larger than my moms apartment.

"I think I should move my show to Chicago." Criss laughed as he set the room key down on an elegant end table.

"I agree… maybe they'll buy you out over here?" I spun around to face him.

"Or sell me out, this place is outrageously expensive." He raised an eyebrow.

"So are your show tickets." I joked as I ran a finger against the wall trying to see if it was made from real silk.

Criss didn't seem too thrilled by last remark. "Whatever, you try doing what I do for living and then tell me that…"

"I was kidding. Lighten up." I shot him a playful glance but he just walked further into the room.

"Did your management put our bags in here already?" I asked as I slowly followed him.

"Yeah, they should be in the bedroom." He replied heading that way.

"Great, I need a shower badly." I hurried into the room and found our suitcases lined neatly against the window.

"While you do that I'll unpack and afterwards, maybe we can check out the rest of the hotel?" Criss offered.

I nodded as I watched him lift our suit cases onto the bed.

After I had showered, gotten decently dressed and we both had unpacked it was well after 6pm. We decided to check out the French restaurant down stairs for dinner. On our way down Criss's cell phone rang.

"What's up?" He answered as he let go of my hand.

I watched his facial expression trying to guess who he was talking to.

"What? Like how big is big… WHAT?!" Criss drew in a shaky breath and shot me a look.

I shrugged totally lost in the one way conversation.

"Okay, how soon can you be here? Where the hell are you? WHAT?! That long! Fucking 2 hours! Where's Tiny and Rob? Oh, Okay, yeah… so they are waiting for me downstairs… and were the hell is Raymond? This is shitty man, real shitty. Get here A.S.A.P." Criss flipped his phone shut.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked as I watched Criss fight with the buttons on the elevator panel.

"What are you doing? I thought we were going downstairs… not up?" I grabbed at his hand.

Groaning he slammed his head against the back of the wall and shut his eyes.

"Sarah, there are about 100 people in that lobby and outside waiting for me already. I'm hungry, you're hungry… Shane's stuck in traffic because he was trying to talk to the florist and my body guards are all downstairs trying to take care of the insanity… so we are taking this elevator back up to our room and ordering in."

"100 hundred people… how did they find out we were here so fast?" My eyes bugged.

"I have no idea. But I'll take of it, don't worry… we will have this time alone. Shane's on his way." Criss tried to assure but he himself didn't sound too positive.

"Alright…" I replied as we stepped back onto floor 30.

As we were entering the room his phone rang again.

"Hello?" He answered still sounding quite upset.

"Oh, hi! How are you? it's been awhile. Oh great, good to hear! I've been better Hun, yeah… you know how it goes, 'can't eat where you shit'- isn't that what they say or how they say it? That sounds terrible though it really does!" Criss rubbed at his forehead as he stormed off into the bedroom and slammed the door behind him leaving me alone in the foyer completely lost.

**THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR COMMENTS SO FAR! I AM SO HAPPY YOU ALL ARE READING! YAY!!! HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAP, SORRY IT WASNT AS LONG AS THE LAST, THE NEXT ONE SHOULD BE DONE SOON.**

**Always,**

**Deppdependant**


	4. Chapter 3

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel To Lucky 13**

**Chap. 3**

After I unfroze myself from my crooked stance in the foyer I made my way into the living room area of the suite and could vaguely hear Criss's muffled voice still chatting away to the mysterious _female _caller. Whoever it was I took the hint that he didn't want me to find out but my veins felt like they were pumping acid as I heard him laugh from the behind the shut bedroom door. Part of me wanted to rip the damned door off of the hinges and knock his Blackberry out his hand but instead I sat "calmly" on the luxurious couch picking away at my thumb nail.

I had no real reason to jump to any sort of conclusion about the unknown caller anyhow. Criss had probably just stormed off into his room because he was in a general bad mood due to the news from Shane. Trying to convince myself of that I flipped the T.V. on and focused on the local news.

_Tomorrows High will be 68 and fairly sunny, so it will be a wonderful temp. for the middle of May! _

The Chicago weather man smiled as he delivered the report.

I had gotten through three sets of commercials the sports review and a report about how "in taking too much celery could cause colon cancer" by the time Criss came finally came out of the bedroom.

"Hey, sorry about that." He muttered as he blocked my view of the large flat screen T.V.

I just shrugged and curled my feet up tighter against my chest.

"Whatever."

"That was Holly on the phone by the way… in case you were curious. I invited her to the wedding, is that alright?" Criss asked as he moved away from the television and drew in closer to the couch.

"Holly Madison? Yeah, I guess so. I haven't seen her in awhile… is she doing well?" I questioned suddenly feeling foolish that I had ever doubted him in the first place.

"Yeah, she's doing well. She's doing another season of the Playmates. Currently she's in Mexico on a small vacation. She'll be back from that just in time to make it to the wedding though." He replied as he reached over towards an end table that was along side of the couch and picked up a phone.

"What do you want to eat?" He asked with a sigh.

"At this point I don't care, anything you're having." My eyes focused back towards the T.V. and the "Celery scare".

We both decided that pasta was an easy order. It arrived at our room about 45 minutes later and I answered the door in a hurry while Criss busied himself with his cell phone again trying to find out where exactly Shane was. According to Criss Shane was now downstairs trying to convince the hotel management team to block off the lobby from letting anyone inside who claimed to be associated with us without his or Criss's approval. Also he was trying to have them keep the fans outside and control them leaking inside before anymore chaos took over. I hoped he got it all figured out before we had to leave in the morning, I wasn't looking forward to being mobbed again.

When we were finished with our food I pretty had enough for one day and was ready to call it a night. My mind was spinning in with stress about the wedding, about how many people we were coming, about family, my dad, Criss's health, I couldn't take much more I just needed to sleep. It was around 9pm when I crawled under the covers and Criss shot me a look like I was sick.

"Are you feeling alright?" He asked seriously while he situated his suitcases some more.

"I'm fine babe, I'm just exhausted. I've got a lot on my mind. I'm tired." I sunk deeper under the sheets and shut my eyes.

He raised an eyebrow at me from across the room and set his suitcase down.

"Alright, well… I'll let you get some rest. I shouldn't be up much longer, I've just got some quick updates to do on my website and then I have to jot down a few ideas for this whatcha-mah-jigger I want to do to add some more life to the Believe show."

My eyes flickered open again. "Okay… goodnight, I love you."

Criss jumped onto the bed and I giggled at how fast he was. "I love you, night."

I woke up around 1a.m. and had to feel my way around the room the light switch. I hated that feeling, the feeling of not knowing your surroundings. I located the lamp next to edge of the bed and nearly knocked it over in my attempt.

_Where was he? Damn, it was late._

The neon green numbers on the alarm clock stung my sleep heavy eyes as I made way out of the giant bed and peaked back out into the living room.

Criss was laying in middle of the floor with his legs straight up in the air and his arms outstretched above his head. I blinked wondering if I was seeing things abnormally but the image returned exactly the same as it was before. His eyes were closed and his right hand was grasping tightly to his left wrist. I think he was actually checking his own pulse.

_What the __**hell **__was he doing? _

I stood in the bedroom door way watching him curiously expecting something "mind freakish" to happen soon or for there to suddenly to be Yoga music switched on the background but neither happened, he just continued to lay there and draw in deep breath after breath. I tiptoed towards the back of the couch and rested my hands on the cushion. My mouth formed the word "what" but I remained quiet still curious to see what his next move would be.

Criss slowly dropped his legs, bending at the knees first and smiled lightly his eyes still remaining shut. "What are you doing up?" He asked and I nearly jumped.

"How did you know I was in here?" I laughed as I grabbed at my heart.

He opened his eyes and sat up. "Your toes always crack when you walk."

I smiled. "What the hell are you doing on the floor?"

"Like I told you before, I was jotting down notes for Believe and it took me to an idea for an illusion that's all…" He replied seeming to hold something back.

"Right, okay… that involves you laying on the floor with your legs up in the air?" I threw my arms up in defeat.

He stood up and headed over to me. "Fine, what I was doing was trying to stop my own pulse."

"WHAT?!" I distorted my face and shook my head.

He nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to do it for fans at the show next time when I went around the audience to prove to more people that 'yes, it is possible and not a hoax'. So I was laying down with my legs up to increase blood flow to the pulse points that I was trying to restrict so I could see how far I could go with it."

"So, let me get this straight, you are technically willing your own heart to stop so that you can "Mindfreak" people?!" I yelled.

Criss shot me an angry glance. "Yes and no. This really isn't that big of deal Sarah, I've done it before on a season, I actually stopped my pulse at 5 points, I only will stop it at one or two depending at the show. As long as you still have one pulse point going you are fine! Don't judge this unless you have knowledge and understanding of it first! It's a beautiful experience!"

My jaw clenched as I fought ill-words. "When are you going to learn that death is not beautiful?! You are playing with fate every time you dab into that shit Criss and its seriously getting old!"

"It is a beautiful thing when you are not afraid of it! You know nothing about death! Don't talk to me about playing with fate… If death chooses me than I am 100% comfortable with that, at least I will die knowing that I did what I loved and that I pushed my life to the brink of death just to know what it is like to feel _fully _alive. So don't sit here and pick apart my art because my art is my life and my life will be my death." He stormed off into the kitchen.

"I don't want your art to be the end of me because if I loose you…" I trailed off with emotion. "Is that so selfish?" I yelled across the room.

"No, but I will tell you that no one and nothing comes before it. I'm sorry." He replied point blank.

My head spun with a million different irrational replies but the only one I could make out was, "No, I am."

"For what?" Criss slammed down a water bottle.

"For being here…" I muttered quietly trying to ignore the rush of tears that were stinging my eyes.

The water bottle dropped to the floor with a crash and I heard him cuss loudly. "What the hell, come on… you know that's not what I mean…"

"Oh, I know exactly what you mean." I hurried into the bedroom and gathered up my purse.

"Where are you going now it's 1 o'clock in the damned morning?" He stood in the living room and watched me stuff my suitcase with a few pairs of clothes.

"I'm going to my moms OBVIOUSLY, where else would I go? Give me the car keys." I held my hand out in demand but he shook his head.

"No, I'm not letting you leave like this, you're wearing pajamas as it is anyhow…" He pointed out.

"Criss, give me the car keys!" I shouted.

He shut his eyes and drew in a breath trying to calm down. "Sarah, no… if you want to leave then find your own way out but I am not giving you one."

"Fine! Then I'll call a taxi." I replied angrily as I wheeled my dissolved suitcase to the door.

Criss followed me in a frantic hurry. "Are you fucking serious?! You're leaving?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I am not going marry someone who is going to put me second to anything in their life… I'm sorry."

He starred at me for a moment and glanced down at my hand. "Then give me the ring back… if you're so serious."

I looked down at my left hand realizing that the tears had finally won me over.


	5. Chapter 4

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel To Lucky 13**

**Chap. 4**

The annoying tears swept down my cheeks as I attempted to tug off my engagement ring in a fit of rage.

"I was just going think about this… but if that's how you are going be!" I toss the ring at him and he failed to catch the delicate band. It bounced off of his chest and rolled against the bottom frame of the wall. Finally it landed with a small clink next to his bare foot. My eyes leveled his for a moment and I tried to evaluate his thoughts but nothing could be registered except for anger.

_Maybe that was because I couldn't set aside my own._

"If you leave me you're leaving a lot behind… not just some fucking ring, not this time Sarah, I'm sick of you storming out on me." Criss rested his forearm against the door in attempt to block me from getting out.

"Me? Oh okay, sure… YOU'RE the one leaving me ALL the time for some goddamned bullshit! 'Hmmm… let's see, today I think I feel like catching myself on fire while peronas eat my flesh, wait no… maybe I should just chain myself up in a tub of acid and see how long it takes to escape!'" I mocked him as I tired to shove his arm out of the doorway. "Seriously, you put THAT shit before me… NICE!"

Criss seemed to grow more livid by second. "Go then! If that's what you think and won't actually see my side of the discussion or why I feel the way I do, just fucking leave. It wouldn't work between us anyway."

I shot him a disgusted glance, half excepting him to still be barricading the door.

"I will!" I flung the handle open and carted my suitcase through in a mad dash. It scrapped against the wall and I just ignored the fact that I probably had broken a wheel.

Criss slammed the door behind me and I didn't bother looking back.

I didn't care that I looked like a complete moron. I was wearing nothing but a tee-shirt and a pair of a sleep shorts that were neon plaid. My hair must have been a rats nest and I think my eyeliner was still smeared on my left eye because the face wash I brought really wasn't that "exfoliating". To top it off, I hadn't even bothered to lace up my tennis shoes_. _

_Man, I was really on it. _

When I got out of the elevator I stormed out of the lobby and hauled my suitcase through the front doors. Then the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. It felt like I had literally been dealt a blow to the chest and the wind had been knocked out of me. I couldn't move a single step without a camera flashing and before I could catch my lost breath 3 microphones were tossed into my face like balloons.

-"Is everything okay between you and Criss?"-

-"Where is Criss?"-

-"Is it true that you two are getting married?"-

-"How long until he proposes?"-

-"When is the wedding?-

-"Do you know the secrets behind his illusions?"-

My head spun like it was an acid trip and I kept on imaging a break in the sea of fans and buzzing paparazzi. I mentally could envision myself catching a taxi and flipping the bird to each and everyone smothering me. Instead I just kept on muttering the words, "No comment." Over and over to each camera, each fan, and each microphone ahead of me. I tried to push my way through the crowd and attempt to call for a taxi but it was next to impossible without someone tugging on a limb or my suitcase. My head spun again and I felt the air in my lungs grow thinner. I knew I was panicking, I knew I was about to snap.

"Oh my God, that's the dumb ass skank who is fucking Criss, I heard she's the one who tried to kill him, not his ex wife because she's just trying to get all his money!" A taller, athletically built fan shouted from center of the giant crowd.

"GET FUCKED BITCH!" Another woman screamed and I noticed a poster in her hand of Criss from his season 5 promo.

_Yeah, I see that Shane was really on top of things… _

I drew in another shallow breath as I continued my way towards the end of the front walkway. They seemed to give up a bit when I placed my hand over my forehead in attempts to shield my face from the camera flashes.

I was right around the curb of the street when the same athletic girl shouted, "I bet you can't even get him up!"

What the hell… this was seriously ridiculous…

"Grow up!" I yelled back having enough of her mouth. "Criss doesn't need fans like you anyhow. Go google some more bullshit on online you nasty slut!"

_So maybe, I had said too much… so maybe it was a bit rash… _

The next thing I knew I had the season 5 promo tossed at my face and the other girl was yelling at how I needed to "put a bra on".

The cameras were eating this up. It literally looked like it was daylight outside because there was nothing but one continuous flash after flash.

I made my way to taxi and slammed the door closed in time to avoid the athletic girls shoe from decking me in the back.

_Thank God the cab driver didn't speak English._

~*~

My mom was dead asleep when I crept into her apartment. I still had a key from ages ago. I didn't bother to wake her up. Instead I just left her note saying that I was sleeping in the guest bedroom and that we'd talk about it in the morning. I really didn't want to be bothered. To my surprise I didn't cry that night. I think I was too beside myself to cry. However I do remember not falling asleep until it was daylight.

The next afternoon I woke up at around 1pm. I couldn't believe I had slept that long. My mom was in the living room watching T.V. and I heard her gasp loudly when I made my way out.

"Sarah! What did you do last night! Dear God!" She shook her head in disapproval.

I blinked and rubbed the remained sleep from my eyes.

"Already on T.V.?" I asked with sigh.

"It's on the news for god sakes." She pointed.

I raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Let him deal with that. Forget it."

My mom distorted her face and cut the T.V. off. "What is going on?"

I took a seat on the rocking chair next to her and hesitantly began to explain. When I was finished she shook her head and gave me a disappointed grin.

"Usually I would tell you that you're completely right in this kind of situation, but when it comes to him… I'm going to have to say that you are in the wrong."

My eyes widened. "Come on, he's a dick!"

"Criss is married to his career and always has been and always be. If you weren't a career orientated person yourself then you wouldn't be so attracted to him. Think about it… you don't REALLY like magic Sarah, you are afraid of clowns for god's sake!" My mom paused to laugh and rolled my eyes. "You really like feeling _magical_ and escaping the reality of the world around you. That is his goal in life, to give people that opportunity. To dream the impossible to be the impossible-"

"Mom, you're making no sense you're talking about clowns and dreams…" I sighed.

"Just shut up and listen!" She leaned forward in her chair trying to get her point across. "He isn't TRYING to be a what do you call it now a-days… _Emo_? Or whatever…"

I cracked up and went to get out of the chair completely having enough of the conversation but she grabbed at my leg.

"I'm saying he isn't TRYING to hurt himself while he is at work. He is trying to accomplish his dreams and his goals in life and through that he wants to prove to others that it is possible to succeed in life. He was a nobody and nothing and built himself up into a HUGE somebody and a giant success. His accomplishments mean the world to him and to others that strive be like him and for you to sit there and say that what he is doing is foolish probably reminds him of what everyone used to tell him when he wasn't a famous illusionist. Think about it? When you say that to him, it will make him want to push harder to do more and become more than what he already is."

I bit down on my bottom lip and focused on the floor. "I suppose you have made a few good points."

"A few? You KNOW I'm right!" My mom sighed.

I shrugged. "Yeah… I guess so… I just cant stand seeing him hurt or seeing him risk his life anymore…"

My mom shook her head again. "Well, seriously now. He's been doing this for what, over 30 years. Do you honestly think that he would risk his life on purpose without known the consequences of it? I'm sure with every stunt or illusion or trick he does he already has it calculated to a T before he performs it."

My teeth sunk deeper into my bottom lip as I thought over her words.

"Why else would he do all of this… there's no reason for him to obsessed with death…" My mom spaced off and it seemed like she had thought of something but quickly held back her own words.

I wrinkled my forehead and looked back up at her. "What is it?"

"Well, this is going to sound strange… but does Criss talk about his father a lot?"

"Every once in awhile, more when Costa and J.D. are with him or I and of course around his mom. But he doesn't like… wait, well, you know… Hmm, now that I think about… yeah?" I shot her a nervous look.

She drew in a deep breath and muttered. "Nothing, never mind… Like I said, I think you're over reacting."

"What about his dad, mom?" I questioned.

"Well, you know he watched his dad pass away from cancer?" She asked somberly.

I nodded. "Yes, I do."

"And his dad… he passed away in arms." She pointed out.

I squinted my eyes. "I knew that as well, what are you getting with this? That was a few years ago."

"Well, sometimes, when someone isn't fully ready to let go…" She stopped and starred at me. "They can have a hard time dealing with it."

I shook my head. "So you're saying he's becoming obsessed with death because it took his father away from him?"

"No, not quiet, I think that maybe Criss feels like he owes it to his dad to endure a lot of physical pain and break emotional boundaries because he watched what all he went through in his time of illness and how strong he was. So in a way his father was a big role model to him. So I think that Criss is tying what he learned emotionally from his dad into his career. I believe that is why he is not 'afraid' of death because he learned from his father to face it head on and accept that when it is your time, 'its your time'. Do you understand what I mean?" My mom questioned.

I nodded, already knowing that Criss's father was a major role model to him, but when my mom worded it, it all suddenly seemed to piece together.

"Mom, do you think I should call him?" I asked seriously.

She focused her eyes on the clock hanging above the T.V. and replied, "No, wait for him to come back to you. He will. Trust me. Believe the impossible."

I stood up and stretched.

_Right, BELIEVE in a suicidal illusionist who puts my heart second to his career or BELIEVE that he is the most compassionate, brilliant and driven man who had ever stepped into my life… maybe it would have all been easier if I had fallen in love with a clown? _

**_YAY! I'M SO HAPPY EVERYONE IS LIKING THIS SO FAR AND I'M HAPPY YOU ALL SUGGESTED THAT I WRITE A SEQUEL! I'M HAVING SO MUCH FUN WRITING IT!!! HOPE U LIKED THE CHAP... I KNOW THEY AREN'T TOO GOOD RIGHT NOW LOL! UPDATES SOON!_**

**_Always,_**

**_Deppdependant_**


	6. Chapter 5

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel To Lucky 13**

**Chap. 5**

Minutes seemed to pass like days and days seemed to drag by like years. I think my cell phone became permanently attached to the palm of my hand and every time I received an incoming call my mind was starting to play tricks on me. I would visualize his number but it was never him. It had been 3 days. The church had called me to confirm our 5pm meeting on Monday but I cancelled it. Friends were calling by the second wanting to know when, where, how, why and what to bring to my bachelorette party but I just kept on telling them that'd I keep them posted. I continued to stay at my moms and all I did through out those 3 days was mope around her apartment and watch re-runs of America's Next Top Model.

_God, Tyra Banks was a bitch… but I loved her show…_

3 Days… I should probably have gotten the hint that he was NEVER going to call or speak to me again unless it was to tell me to finally get my belongings but I just couldn't set aside hope that _maybe _I really was important to him. _Maybe _for once in his life he could put someone else before his career.

At around 6pm my phone rang and like usual my heart skipped, expecting for it to a confrontational call. Instead it was my dad.

"Hello." I answered.

"So, you're getting married!" My dad's tone of voice was disappointed.

Just as I thought he'd be.

"Well… I was… I see that you got the invite in the mail?" I sighed roughly, not wanting to discuss details of the reasons behind the matter.

"I did, what do you mean you _were_? Why didn't you tell me any of this until now?" His voice rose.

It took me nearly an hour to calm him down and explain the whole situation.

"So you mean to tell me that now he has brought you all the way back here and you have already set the date, the time, the whole shah-bang and now he gives some shit about how you are second in his life?" My dad questioned through an obvious rage fit.

I cleared my throat. "Well, to put it bluntly, yes."

There was a long pause on his end of line. "Are you at your mothers?"

"I am, why?"

"I'll call you tomorrow… I forgot about a meeting I had planned tonight." And with that he hung up.

I glanced down at my cell phone wondering if he or I had lost signal. My dad was never that short with me. He was usually a softy. I rested my hands on the kitchen counter top and glanced out the window. My mom was out running errands at the grocery store. She had been a long time, I wondered what was taking her so long? My cell phone stared at me with a hidden vengeance from across the counter again.

_Maybe I should just call Criss? No… don't do that, calling would be too impersonal... _

_He could always just press the ignore button anyhow…_

I pushed my cell phone further away from me and focused out the window again. A taxi cab zipped by on the side street below and I shut my eyes fighting my impulsive thoughts.

_Just do it… He can't ignore you then!_

Grabbing my cell phone I rushed into the guest bedroom and slipped on my flip flops in a hurry.

_Maybe I could catch that taxi._

When I arrived at the Ritz Carlton I was relieved to see that the fans weren't mobbing the sidewalk anymore. There were about a 15 to 20 standing in a group on the side of the building but they didn't seem to take notice as I headed inside. I went straight for the elevator and pressed floor 30. When I got off there were 3 security guards standing in the hallway and I raised an eyebrow.

"May I ask what room you are looking for?" Tiny questioned.

"Tiny, cut the shit… you know I'm here for Criss." I half smirked and continued my way passed him.

"I'm sorry Sarah but I have to ask everyone and as of right now, I know that Criss doesn't want to speak to you… I _should _ask you leave." Tiny muttered.

Tiny was anything but tiny. He stood at about 6 foot 4 and could probably bench press a compact SUV. He was a huge bald headed Indian man in his early 30's. The only thing that mislead me about him was his high pitched voice. Every time he spoke I wanted to laugh. I never expected such a small voice to come out of someone so intimidating.

"You should but you won't?" I winked trying to push my luck.

Tiny rolled his eyes at me and spun around the opposite direction down the hallway. "Good luck."

The other two body guards followed him, each one giving me a thumbs up.

I shook my head at how they were acting and paused for a moment outside his suite door.

I knocked 3 times before he answered.

"Did you come back for something?" Criss came to the door appearing to be in a hurry.

It took me a moment to reply but I finally shook my head 'no'.

"I wanted to talk…"

"Talk about?" He shifted his weight to his right foot and glanced at the door handle.

I sighed. "Everything. I miss you. I'm sorry… I shouldn't have freaked out. I think you're awesome."

'_I think you're awesome'… seriously, did I just really say that?_

The door started to close faster than my cheeks were becoming red.

"Wait, no… I didn't mean for it come out like that… I mean, I think that you're amazing at what you do. I really do. I appreciate your art. I just don't understand all of it. Maybe I'm dense, maybe I'm blind to your creative side but I want to be able see it your way… I do. You might not understand hair like I do… that's okay, you might understand why I like a certain runway stylist or whatever and idolize them, whatever… I like you, I like you for who you and what you are… and if you want to slice cards out of your wrists then okay that's awesome!" I rambled as I tried to push the door open.

Criss narrowed his eyes into mine. "Slice cards out of my wrist… that would be a good idea…"

I laughed. "See, teamwork…"

He smirked. "Right, okay. I just think that eventually you will grow tired of my profession and my life being on the line all the time and you will never understand why I am willing to put it above everything else. Please just know that I don't mean to offend you when I say that… it's the only thing in my life that never brings me down or turns its back on me. It's my creation, my outlet and I need it to survive. I don't want you to think that I don't love you or care about you, its just that I have worked for this my entire life and no one is going to get in the way of it."

I nodded. "I know what you are trying to say… I really do. I think that I would feel better if maybe you let me in on it more than you do."

Criss opened the door wider and signaled for me to step inside.

"I would Sarah but I don't think that you grasp the reality of the situation."

"What do you mean?" I asked as we made our way into the living room.

He took a seat on the couch and shrugged trying to find the right words. "For example the scenario with Joann, that brought me nothing but hell. She knew EVERYTHING about me. Every strength, every weakness and every technique behind my tricks and illusions, hell she could probably make millions herself… but in the end, she used it all against me and the ones I love the most. I don't want to take that chance again. I'm not saying that it will inevitably happen with you and I or that you are that type of person. Honestly, I don't think that you are but to be frank, I didn't think that Joann was either. The only people who know anything about my art is of course my magic crew and my brothers and my mom. That's it. Actually, the crew doesn't really know ALL of it. Costa and J.D. know 75%, my mom knows about 80%. That's the bottom line. That's how it is in this business. If you let too many people know your secrets then you get sold out." He explained.

I rubbed at my forehead and drew in a deep breath. "I guess… I just don't like not knowing…"

He bit at his pointer finger and replied, "Well, I can tell you that I do know what I am doing and if anything I will never purposely put myself in harm unless I know that I can easily get out of it."

_That was assuring… not._

"Can you at least promise to work harder on trying to tell me more?" I asked.

Criss nodded. "Sure, I can promise you that once I'm done with something you'll know everything about it."

"That's shit." I muttered as I stood back up.

"What more do you want me to say?" He questioned as he tossed his hands in the air.

"That you are going to tell me whatever you can tell me! I don't give a shit if its just that you had to sedate the fucking bunny to put it in the hat, just tell me something!" I yelled.

Criss bit harder on his finger. "Fine, I'll tell you that half the time, the bunny is ALREADY in the hat!"

I stitched my eyebrows. "I already knew that one, duh! I've seen the bunnies in the back of Believe."

Criss laughed. "See, there you go… you knew more than you thought you did already."

I folded my arms and gazed down at him furiously. "Whatever, Criss."

"I will work on it… I promise, okay?" He gave in and grabbed at my arm.

"Alright. Make it juicy if you do." I giggled. "Like tell me how the hell you manage to levitate 100 feet in the air or how you stick your head through people?"

Criss chuckled. "If you knew those answered it wouldn't be that interesting anymore, really it wouldn't."

I patted the top of his head. "If only I knew what you thinking half of the time…"

"Currently, I'm thinking about how much of an ass you made out of yourself the night you left." He pointed out bluntly.

My cheeks reddened again. "Yeah… that was pretty bad."

Criss slouched further down on the couch and tossed a gossip magazine at me.

The front page read:

CRAZED FAN SUBJECTED TO CRAZED MINDFREAKETTE

I threw it across the room and ran a hand through my hair.

"That 'crazed fan' was a bitch, she got what she deserved did you read what she said to me?"

He shut his eyes. "I didn't bother opening it."

"Don't." I sighed.

"You know-" He began but was cut off my a loud knock on the door.

"Hold on." He stood up and walked through the foyer.

"Wait, do you want me to get it?" I offered as I followed him.

"You're just as popular as I am no-a-days." Criss laughed as he pulled the door open.

"Oh, hello Mr. Howard… come on in," He greeted sounding a bit unsure of himself and I dropped my mouth open wide as I saw my dad standing in the doorway.

"Hello Criss." My dad muttered right before his fist crashed against Criss's jaw so hard his head nailed backwards against the doorframe.


	7. Chapter 6

**Queen of Hearts**

**Chap. 5**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

I stood in the foyer trying to take in the situation at hand. Criss regained his balance and grabbed at the back of his head. My dad looked furious, his blue eyes were pegged straight into his and I swear he was readying his fist for a second punch but Tiny was already behind him.

I finally snapped out my shocked daze when Criss loudly shouted, "What the hell is going on?"

"What the fuck to you think?!" My dad yelled as he attempted to shrug out of Tiny's tight grip.

Criss signaled for him to let my dad go and Tiny hesitantly released his elbows.

"You seriously have a LOT of explaining to do!"

Criss drew in a deep breath and as I took a step closer in I noticed that his nose was bleeding.

_Damn, I didn't know my dad still had it in him. _

"Well, why don't we sit down like civilized men and talk about this…" Criss offered, opening the door wider.

I went to speak but my tongue failed me.

Tiny shot my dad a glance of warning as he entered the door and Criss waved his hand for him stay outside.

"You're lucky you've got that ape outside or I'd rip you apart." My dad threatened as he stormed inside the foyer.

Criss slammed the door shut and I jumped from the loud sound.

My dad noticed me in the corner of the hallway and he froze.

"What are you doing here?!" His face changed immediately to sheer disappointment and embarrassment.

I struggled with my voice for a moment again. "I ugh, came here to talk things over with Criss… I thought you had a 'meeting' that you forgot about, some meeting."

He chewed the inside of his cheek and replied, "I'm sorry Sarah I just can't let this asshole-" he paused to glance over at Criss. "keep on toying with your emotions."

Criss sniffed noisily and wiped at the drying blood on his nose with his forearm.

"That's my business, not yours if I want to be with him. I love him. We had an argument, so what?" I yelled.

My dad stiffened his stance as Criss stood along side of me.

"I suppose I did overreact, but every time I hear from you… all you have done, Criss is bring drama into her life. You two are either in court or fighting and now getting married and then not getting married. What is this? Days of Our Lives! This is ridiculous. I turn on the damn news and there is my daughter getting mobbed by your fans!" He pointed at Criss's chest.

Criss shut his eyes trying to control himself and I folded my arms in an attempt to defend myself.

"No, this isn't Days of Our lives, this is life… my life, his life and its going to OURS very soon. You have to accept that I want him as my husband. Deal with it." I rambled.

My dad sighed roughly and tapped his foot on the floor. "I'm sorry, I'm just concerned about you and your safety. I'm worried about your heart."

Criss cleared his throat. "Her heart is perfectly intact and if anything I think that I am doing a damn good job of keeping her safe."

"Really?" My dad laughed sarcastically. "We'll see about all that."

I unfolded my arms and headed back towards the hallway. "Dad, please…" My hand signaled sluggishly towards the door.

He shot one last look at Criss and turned his back towards him.

"Alright, I'm sorry if I was rash but I stand up for what I believe in and right now I believe that this is all wrong and you are my little girl, I love you. You deserve the world, not someone who will promise you the stars and deliver you nothing but sand." My dad told me on his way out.

"Good night dad." I muttered as I closed door.

Criss didn't say a word to me as I followed him into the bathroom. He obviously was heading in there to attend to his nose.

"You alright?" I finally broke the silence while I watched him wash his face off.

"Who knows, maybe he popped it back into place. I've broken the damn thing so many times it's not even funny." He replied.

I leaned in over the sink and rested a hand on his back. "I'm really sorry about all that. That was completely uncalled for."

He shrugged as he reached for the hand towel. "If I was in his shoes I would probably be just as pissed."

"What do you mean?" My face construed.

"Seriously, I have done a real shit job of taking care of you… he is right. We are always fighting, you are being torn apart by my fans and we did just call the wedding off, not to mention that my ex-wife tried to kill you."

I pondered his response for a minute and let go of his back. "Yeah, but we always make-up and we always come up with solutions to our problems."

Criss tossed the hand towel on the sink counter and stared at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes focused on a blood stain on his light green shirt.

"Right, solutions and make-ups…" He tore his shirt off seeming to be upset that he couldn't make the stain disappear by simply willing it away.

I raised an eyebrow in the mirror at him and rolled my eyes. "Whatever Criss. I'm not trying to start another argument."

"Neither am I, I was just stating how I felt." He pealed the burn bandages off of his chest and I silently cringed as I watched him reach for his antibiotic ointment.

Turning my back I pre occupied myself with a decorative shelve on the wall.

"So, is the wedding really off?" I asked curiously.

I heard something drop against the counter and I tilted my head around to find him glancing back at me.

"I thought it was after all you gave me the ring back. I called my parents and cancelled their flight along with Elaine and Chester's."

Tinkering with a floral basket on the shelve I replied, "Maybe, we aren't ready for all this yet?"

I heard another object bang against the counter but that time I didn't bother to turn around.

"Maybe not but I'm not getting any younger here sweetheart." Criss retorted.

My hand dropped away from the shelve and I spun around. "What is that supposed to mean?"

He glanced back at me through the mirror and replied, "I'm 41 years old for God sakes… do you honestly think that I'm not thinking about that as well?"

I folded my arms. "Whatever, I'm over this… this is such shit. Now we're back to age play again."

Criss sighed roughly and headed out of the bathroom. I trailed behind him as I muttered, "Do you even want me to stay here tonight or should I leave?"

He spun around catching me off guard and nearly knocking me off balance.

"Yeah, that's fine. Stay or go, it's up to you."

"That wasn't a straight answer." I shot back.

"Then go." He replied as he returned back to walking into the bedroom.

I shook my head. "You are unbelievable."

Criss took off his handcuff necklace and laid it down on the nightstand.

"I feel like you should leave because there is no reason why you should be here. I'm heading off tomorrow morning anyhow." He explained as he worked off his rings.

"Seriously… so we are done?" I practically whispered.

Criss nearly threw his rings on the nightstand and glance at me. "No, I never said that… I NEVER said that at all… I'm just confused right now. If YOU want to stay then stay. Whatever. I don't care."

My head hurt from this conversation. I think the room was spinning.

_God, I needed a vacation away from everyone and everything. _

"Well, I'm staying and you're NOT leaving tomorrow. We ARE getting married. Clear?" I nearly yelled.

Criss stared at me in shock. "Crystal."

I released a breath and walked up closer to him. "Don't make me deck you in the face… you know I will, it runs in my family."

He rolled his eyes and finally laughed. "Right, that will be the day."

That night I finally fell asleep around midnight. Criss had drifted off to bed nearly an hour and a half before I had but I just couldn't seem to get my mind off of everything. When I finally dozed off my dreams kicked into overdrive and the next thing I remember was waking up in a cold sweat to the alarm clock reading 3:45am. My heart raced as I frantically searched the bed for Criss. He was curled into a tight ball along side of me with his left hand oddly grasping onto the bottom of my night shirt. My breathing slowed as reality started to kick in again. It would all be alright.

_The church wasn't on fire… _

_The gasoline barrels weren't real…_

_There was no timer in my hand…_

"Criss," I whispered.

His hand pawed at my shirt and I felt his leg brush against mine.

"Criss," I repeated with a nudge.

He jumped a bit as he fought his way out obvious deep sleep. "Huh, Yeah?"

"I love you." I turned to the side his body rotating with mine,

His eyes popped open sluggishly. "I love you too. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go back to sleep. I just love you, that's all." I smiled as I planted a kiss against his forehead.

He returned my kiss softly and snuggled his way back against me. "Goodnight, baby."

_Yes, everything was totally fine. _


	8. Chapter 7

**Queen of Hearts**

**Chap. 7**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

I woke up the next morning to an empty bed and a cell phone blaring loudly in my ear. It me a moment to detangle the sheets from between my ankles before I managed to roll over to the nightstand. When I did I realized that it was Criss's phone that had woken me up. The caller ID read: Britney S.

I set it back down for a moment and hollered his name roughly but no one answered. The phone continued to ring until I finally decided to answer it.

"Hello?" I cleared my throat a bit trying to sound more awake.

"Ugh, hello? May I speak with Criss please?" The apparent "Britney S." questioned.

"He's not available at this moment, may I take a message?" I asked as I sat further up in the bed.

"Umm… yeah, just tell him that Brit called and that it is imperative that he calls me back as soon as possible. Thank you." And with that she hung up.

If I wasn't mistaken I think that the Britney S. calling was in fact Britney Spears. Her voice was unmistakable.

_What the hell did she want from Criss? Why did he have her stored in his phone still? _

I set his phone back down and crawled out of bed. Maybe he was in the bathroom? Before I could make my way fully away from the edge of the bed his ring tone went off again and I sighed.

_Who was calling him now?!_

1 NEW TEXT MESSAGE FROM HOLLY

I flipped his phone back open and raised an eyebrow as I read the text.

**Hey Sexy, Hope you have an amazing "HUMP day"! Mine is going horrible! Plz call me ASAP! XOXO**

_Hump day? _She better have been referring to the fact that it was Wednesday… and _XOXO_, WHAT THE HELL BITCH… go "XOXO" on someone else! I slammed the phone down and sighed loudly. Where did he go off to anyhow?

"Criss!" I shouted as I searched the bathroom. It was empty.

I decided that since I had no way to get a hold of him that I would get showered and dressed and search the hotel. By the time I was ready to head out it was past 10am and I was growing worried. Where could he have gone off to? Why hadn't he left me a note? My mind was fluttering with a thousand possibilities as I got into the elevator. Maybe he was still upset about the other night and didn't want to be bothered with me anymore? But then why would he still tell me he loved me after my nightmare? Was that just part of my nightmare?

I scanned inside of the Ritz's gym and didn't spot him or his staff so I headed to the restaurants and shops only to come back empty handed. My last real option was the front desk. I casually walked up and spotted an older women in her mid to late 60's.

"Excuse me ma'am, but have you have you seen Criss today?" I whispered. She narrowed her eyes at me trying to decided whether or not she should share information with me. Then she nodded.

"Yeah, he headed off this morning around 8am. I haven't seen him since."

"Hmmm… alright well, thank you." I smiled as I headed towards the exit.

It was cooler outside that day in Chicago it was only around 65 and rainy. I was happy that I was dressed in a pair of jeans and a light jacket. As I turned the corner of the congested city block I spotted the back of someone very familiar wheeling a suitcase.

"Costa!" I shouted with my arms whaled out like a fool. A bicycler dodged my path and zipped between us.

Costa spun around and grinned. "Sarah!"

His arms opened wide and embraced me into a tight hug.

"Costa, what are you doing here?" I stammered.

He gently pulled me under the side of the sky scraper we were standing next to in order to avoid the on coming down pour of rain.

"I came here to convince Criss that he was losing his mind and that he NEEDED to marry you! But then I got a damned voice mail from him when I got off the plane today saying 'don't unpack, your plane is rescheduled for Thursday'. What the hell is going on with you two?"

Leaning against the building I shrugged. "I have no idea Costa, I don't even know where he is at today."

Costa perked his lips. "He isn't returning my calls either."

I shook my head. "He left his cell phone behind in the room."

"Well, that explains a lot. Did you check the gym?"

I laughed. "Yes! Not there… not eating either."

"What the hell." Costa grew nervous and glanced around at a puddle that was forming beside him.

"Is the rental car gone?" He questioned.

I shook my head. "I didn't check that but the lady at the front desk told me that he left at 8am."

"Well, let's go see if the car is gone and we'll take it from there. It's not like Criss just to disappear like that. I'm sure something important came up but why wouldn't he take his cell phone?" Costa seemed to talk himself more than me as we headed back towards the hotel entrance.

After we had found out that his car was in fact gone we did feel a little better about the situation. Costa decided that if Criss wasn't back by nightfall we would start calling his management. In the mean time Costa checked himself into a room alongside ours and we grabbed lunch together. I gave him the scoop as to why we had been fighting over pizza and coke. Costa didn't seem too surprised that we had been fighting about his career.

"You know Sarah, that is how he is and how he always will be. He is 100% married to his career. Nothing will be put before it. You have to accept that. If you cannot then I will tell you that he won't sacrifice it for you. Trust me, I know first hand. As his brother I have told him thousand of times that he is slowly killing his family with stress and nerves from always pulling his life on the line but we know that if he didn't express his art then he wouldn't be truly happy. He probably wouldn't be the man that you feel in love with if he didn't do all of the things he does, death defying or not…" Costa explained as we finished up our lunch.

I wasn't sure how I felt about his words but I knew that he was right.

At around 3pm Costa and I went our separate ways and promised to contact each other at night fall. When I returned to the suite I was startled to see Criss sitting on the couch casually watching T.V.

"Wha- where the hell have you been all day?" I nearly shouted as I kicked off my shoes.

Criss cut the T.V. off and turned to face me. "I went over to your dads to apologize."

My eyebrows narrowed as I took a seat next to him on the couch. "What?"

"Yeah, I went over there and we talked it out for a good few hours. After that he offered me lunch and so we headed out to grab a bite. Call him, he'll confirm."

I shook my head in half disbelief and half excitement. "But… you left your cell phone behind…"

He nodded. "I didn't want to be interrupted by anyone or anything today. It was of utmost importance that I got that cleared up with your father. I'm sorry I didn't leave you a message as to where I was but I really didn't want you to know about it incase your dad decided to lay another punch on me."

I laughed lightly. "So it went well I take it?"

"It did, it went better than I thought it would. I think he might actually somewhat approve of me now…" Criss replied with snort.

I curled up closer to him and smiled. "You had me so worried and there you were patching things up for me!"

He ran a hand through my hair and gently kissed my cheek. "I'm sorry again. Tomorrow my family is going to be flying in along with Elaine and Chester and we have a meeting at the church, this time we can't miss it-"

"Oh! Costa is already here!" I sat up quickly and searched for my cell phone.

Criss sent me a look of surprise. "What?!"

"Yes, he is in the next room over he-" Before I could say another word Criss was on his feet and heading towards the door.

"That little shit starter!" He chuckled excitedly and signaled that he would be back in a moment. I rolled my eyes and nodded with a grin.

I glanced around for the remote and noticed that it was laying right next to it was Criss's cell phone. Curiosity had me by the fingertips and I couldn't help but take another peak.

**3 NEW TEXT MESSAGES **

_Don't do it again… Come on, that's invading his personal privacy._

I sighed and looked over at the doorway.

_Just one message… just one…_

**Sully: Wut up man, hit me back… where the hell are you today?!**

_Okay, just ONE more…_

**Holly: Babe, I REALLY need to talk to you its important. Plz call me as soon as you get this! XOXO**

_Another XOXO…. What the hell? Why not read the last one?_

**Michelle M: Sup MINDFREAK! I hope all is well in Vegas! Long time no hear! Stop by Customs soon! We all miss your cash and your ass!**

I drew in a deep breath and tossed his phone back onto the table. It wasn't 5 minutes and Criss came into the suite.

"Hey, call Holly." I threw his phone at him.

"What? Did she call again?" He questioned as he glanced down at this phone.

"She's been trying to get a hold of you all day… Oh, and I think that Britney Spears called earlier. She woke me up." I muttered as I headed into the bedroom.

Criss scrolled through his phone mouthing "Britney Spears".

"I'll be on the phone with Elaine." I said.

Criss waved his hand for an 'okay' as his call went through to Holly.

I decided to give them peace as I chatted with Elaine over her up coming flight. While her and I were discussing girl gossip about Chester I heard a loud noise from the kitchen. If I wasn't mistaken it sounded like breaking glass.

"Elaine, let me call you back…" I hung up after I heard Criss cuss.

When I opened the bedroom door he was sweeping up a broken wine glass into a newspaper that he had apparently knocked off of the counter. His cell phone was still attached to his ear and from the look on his face he had just heard some kind of shocking news.

"Well, maybe… maybe it was a false reading?" Criss tossed the glass filled paper into the garbage can.

"What! No… okay…No, that can't be…" He noticed me in the doorway and turned around towards the sink.

"Holly, can we talk about this we I get back?" He attempted to whisper.

I faintly heard her scream on the other end of the phone and Criss pulled it away from his ear.

"No, I care… trust me, you know me much better than that. I care A LOT. Right now just isn't a good time for this…"

He pulled the phone away again and slammed his head into the side of the wall.

"Just… just take a minute to calm down. We will figure this out. We'll talk about it when you get here… you are still coming here, right? Okay, see… in the mean time, take another to be sure and we'll talk about it on Friday. Okay, alright. Talk to you then… yeah, you too." He hung up the phone and muttered the words, "Fuck me."

I took a step closer and swallowed.

"Was that phone call about what I think it was about it?" I questioned feeling my legs get weak from underneath me.

Criss kept his back turned and muttered. "Yeah… yeah, it was."

"And so I should conclude that she was calling you to inform you that she is pregnant… because…." My stomach turned.

Criss dropped his head lower and set his phone on the counter with a slam.

"Because she thinks that it could be mine."

"So, you cheated on me?" I stepped away from him my hands balling into fists.

Criss turned around with his eyes locked on my feet. "It wasn't like that exactly."

"Then what the fuck was it like, _exactly_?!" I yelled, feeling my head pump with adrenaline.

* * *

**NOTE: I AM SOMEWHAT SURPRISED/DISSAPOINTED AT HOW FEW COMMENTS I AM GETTING ON THIS STORY... I ONLY WROTE THIS SEQUEL BECAUSE OF A FANBASED REQUESTED FROM LUCKY 13, SO PLEASE, IF YOU ARE READING THIS STORY PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK AND I WILL CONTINUE OR ELSE I WILL THINK THAT NO ONE IS READING OR THAT YOU THINK IT SUCKS SO FAR LOL! (AND OF COURSE THANKS AGAIN TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN REVIEWING!!!)**

**Always,**

**Deppdependant**


	9. Chapter 8

**Queen of Hearts**

**Chap. 8**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

Criss slowly angled his eyes towards my knees and drew in a breath. "Do you remember back about a month and a half ago when I flew out to California for an interview with E Hollywood?"

My fists tightened. "Yeah, I stayed back home with Elaine. You were only gone about 2 nights…"

He nodded. "Uh-huh. Well, I ran into Holly at a club out there called Pure. I had decided to take the crew out since we had been extremely busy all day with interviews and press and I thought that we would go unwind at the club. So… by the middle of the night needless to say I was _gone_. Too far gone and wasted to remember much of the rest of the night. I think we ran into Kim Kardashian and she was the instigator of my reckless behavior, somehow I remember her shoveling shots my way every time I turned around. After I left the club I offered Holly a ride back to her hotel and it turned out were both staying at the same place so she invited me to her room and the next morning I woke up with a massive hang over from hell. That's about all the information I can share because my brain isn't sending me anymore."

I shook my head completely unconvinced.

"When you 'woke up' were you wearing your clothes, were you in her bed?" I attempted to remain clam.

Criss shuffled a bit, his boots interrupting the silence. "I wasn't nude… but I was in her bed…"

My eyes burned deeper into his. "So that pretty solves what your brain is 'leaving out'!"

His lips tried to form a response but he reminded quiet and began to fidget with his necklace.

"I can't believe you! Honestly, that is- this is fucking moronic! I don't understand… I mean, SHE knew we were getting married YOU knew we were getting married… and you two… NO, I AM SO DONE… I am BEYOND done. First, off you put me 2nd in your life to your damned career which is asinine and then you go and freakin' cheat on me! Beautiful job Criss, Brav-fucking-O!" I ranted as I paced around the kitchen trying to restrain myself from breaking fragile objects in my path.

Criss briefly shut his eyes and folded his arms into his chest. "I know I didn't sleep with her what she is saying is impossible. I would remember if I had… I know I would remember…" His voice was so soft I could barely make out what he was saying.

My pacing came to a dead halt and I stood before him utterly enraged. "What now, how in the hell are we going to explain this one to everyone?!"

He shook his head seeming to still be having an internal struggle with himself. "I don't know, I suppose that's up to you really. I know I didn't have sex with her. I know it's not my baby. She will be here in a few days… can't we decide then? Why jump to conclusions without seeing the proof? I want to know myself. Honestly, I feel like I am going to pass out!"

"YOU feel like you're going pass out?" I snickered. "Please, don't go there with me right now! I am 2 seconds from hoping on the next plane to Vegas and burning your life like a hay field and you want to tell me that YOU feel like YOU want to pass out?!" I yelled angrily. "Well, when I am done feeling like shit since you very bluntly shit on me… then you can tell me just how you feel!"

Criss cleared his throat growing agitated. "Don't starting pointing fingers at me just yet, I can remember a time not too awfully long ago that you thought the grass was greener on the side, love…"

_There went my thunder!_

My eyes rolled. "Okay, but that wasn't under the terms and conditions that we are now…"

"_Terms and conditions_… you make this sound like you are buying me!" Criss uncrossed his arms and walked passed me into the bedroom.

I followed him with my arms held up in the arm. "Whatever! You know what I mean, we weren't as serious then as we are now, we weren't engaged and planning our wedding! Plus, we were on a break! Come on!"

"I don't have the patience for this conversation right now, Sarah." Criss began to fuss with a throw blanket on the edge of the bed.

My head was killing me. All I wanted was for us to be happy and in love; to be walking down the isle together in peace. The more I thought about that lately, the less it seemed like it was ever going to happen.

"Where are you going?" I questioned curiously as I watched him carry the copper toned blanket back into the living room.

"I'm staying with Costa, OBVIOUSLY or else you'll go running off again… am I correct?" His hand roughly ran though his hair.

"I did want to talk about this more…" I sighed as I leaned against the wall.

Criss shrugged. "What else is there to discuss? You pretty much laid it all on me."

I watched him unfold the corners of the blanket and hold it long ways against his chest until the bottom was covering his boot tops.

I raised an eyebrow at him and sheepishly replied, "I am so tired of fighting. I just wish this never happened."

"What never happened?" Criss asked.

My head banged against the wall and I shut my eyes in thought. "I don't know… this whole thing, you and I… everything. I am just worn out of it all."

My eyes popped back open and I turned my head his way only to find the blanket balled up mysteriously in the middle of the living room floor.

I walked over to the blanket and picked it up to find nothing but carpet underneath.

_Son of a bitch disappeared on me!_

I ran to the door so fast I nearly tripped on my own my feet and to my partial surprise it was still locked. Poking my head out into the hallway I glanced around to find it barren. Maybe he had "magically" reappeared at Costa's. If so I wasn't going to bother him. If he could "disappear" that fast what else was he capable of?

**Thank you so much for all of your comments on my last chap!!! (I am not too sure why *or if it just my comp* but it isn't showing all of my replies lately, although I have gotten them in my email so I have been able to read them. I don't know why the site isn't posting them) MIMIBubblez: I did fix my story so that it does come up under Criss Angel now. Thanks again for that information. And I am sorry that this chap was a bit shorter than most, I promise that the next one will be longer. :) Thanks again for reading!**

**3 always **

**Deppedepent**


	10. Chapter 9

**Queen of Hearts**

**Chap. 9**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

Criss didn't "reappear" until the next morning around 9am. I was still in bed when he came into the room. I wasn't sure if I should say anything or remain composed with my head buried underneath the pillows. It took a moment but he sat down next to me and hesitantly placed a hand on my thigh.

"Sorry I ran out last night… I needed to think about things." He began as he starred off at the wall.

I drew in a deep breath and sat up. "Well, you could have used the damn door. That would have been nice."

Criss smirked. "They're overrated at times, you know that." His hand gripped tighter on my thigh and I banged my head on the wooden backboard.

"Are we still going to the church today?" He questioned out of the blue.

I nearly laughed at how nonchalant he was. "Are you kidding me?"

He shrugged. "I don't see why we should let this get in the way. I am not convinced of the fact that I did anything with her that night unless she has that baby and it is in fact genetically mine. Will you or can you at least try to trust me on this one?"

My jaw tightened as I ran over a zillion tragic outcomes. "I will… BUT if it is yours you can count on never seeing or speaking to me ever again."

He nodded seeming to be confident in himself. "Alright. I can handle that because there is no way that is going to be the predicament. My mom is going to be here in about 3 hours and so is J.D.. Elaine and Chester should be at around 8pm tonight. Then a few more are heading in tomorrow, like my cousin George and Sully. Our meeting is at 5pm. Sound alright?"

"Mmmk… yeah. I'll go get dressed." I headed out of the bed still trying to figure out what my thoughts actually were upon the matter.

After Criss's family was settled in we headed to the small Lutheran church that I had grew up in as a young girl. It was located in the south side of the Chicago so it was about a half hour drive away from the inner city. Our meeting went much better and much shorter than I thought it would. Pastor Klagg was the sweetest man and seemed to be so happy to coordinate everything to us _even on such short of a notice. _We set up a date for that upcoming Monday at 3pm. I think I was shaking when Pastor Klagg marked it on the calendar either that or Criss was bouncing his legs so hard it was vibrating my chair from across the room. We were told to come back for more one-on-one and couples counseling on Saturday afternoon. We also had to be back on Sunday evening for a rehearsal (if the counseling went as planned). That was what I was really worried about. With all the problems that Criss and I were facing right now, I really didn't want to be analyzed and probed by a Pastor to see if we were fit to be wed. I wasn't even sure if were ready so how in the hell was I supposed to convince someone else, let alone a man of God?

~*~

FRIDAY

I was so happy that Elaine was finally back. It was incredibly refreshing to see her and Chester happy in love together and fairly drama free. At times I found myself somewhat jealous of their relationship. I missed the days that Criss and I would randomly cuddle and "sneak" off to the bedroom. _Those were the days…_ I guess that changes when someone asks you marry them or something… who knows? I thought that most couples got more mushy and gushy the closer their wedding day came?

Elaine and I decided to head out for night and catch up on everything that had been happening. She told me that she was treating me to late night coffee. When walked out of the hotel I went to holler for a Taxi but Elaine tugged on my arm.

"No, no… follow me." She winked with a sly grin and walked further down the block a ways.

I followed her wondering what was up.

She stopped before a huge stretch limo and smiled widely. "You didn't think that I forgot about your bachlorette party did you?"

Placing my hands on my hips I giggled. "Are you for real?"

She nodded, "Get in, I've got a change of clothes inside waiting for you. Honestly, did you think that I was going to a coffee house dressed like _this_?"

Inside of the limo was a pair of the shortest booty jean shorts I had ever seen and a black lacey corset with a pair of stiletto heels. My eyes bugged out at Elaine in response.

"Don't be silly! You'll look amazing!" She gestured for me change.

"Does Criss know we are going out tonight?" I asked as I eyed over the outfit again.

"He knows that I am taking you out for a 'last hurr-ah' so to speak, he's fine with it. Knowing Criss he'll want pictures." She laughed as she turned away so I could put on the barely there outfit.

We pulled up to a club called Enclave and when I stepped out of the limo I think I heard some nasty guy that was walking by whistle at me.

_Man, I probably looked like a stripper. _

_Elaine didn't look too innocent herself. _She was wearing a mini skirt with a white one side swooped shirt and red heels with big dangle earrings to match. This club must have had a serious dress code or rather lack there of.

When we walked in I found out that I was right about the dress code nearly all the women there were half nude but the men were unbelievably good-looking. The club itself was simply good looking, It was based upon the fashion industry. In the middle of the club there was a giant catwalk that separated the dance floor and the bar. Along side of the catwalk were large VIP tables and behind it was the DJ setup. The place was so packed I found it hard to move. Elaine and I held onto one another so we wouldn't get split up.

"Follow me!" She yelled loudly over the roaring Techno music.

"Where are we going?" I hollered back as I shot a dirty look at a guy in a lime green shirt who decided it would be 'cute' to grab my ass.

"The table to the right!" She yelled again as she pulled on my elbow.

I nearly screamed when I saw the table. Lesley was there who had worked with me at Shear Envy and so were a few long time good friends I had back home, Rene and Carmel.

"Sarah! Oh my God!" Lesley sprung up from her seat and embraced me while Carmel gave Elaine a hug.

After we were situated and order a round of drinks Carmel handed me a big pink bag.

"What is all this?" I narrowed my eyes at her curiously.

She grinned, her green eyes hinting that it was something hysterical.

"Open it!"

Lesley whispered something to Rene as I tore back the tissue paper to find a veiled crown and a pink necklace beaded with penises. I hunched over laughing wildly.

"Oh my goodness Carmel this is great!" I said I placed the crown/veil on my head. She did the honors of wrapping the "Pecker necklace" around my neck.

"Now it is official, you are a bachorlette!" Lesley clapped and the four of them held their drinks out for a toast.

"To you and Criss and to your last night of freedom!"

Our classes clinked together and that was one of the few things I could clearly remember before becoming best friends with the bartender.

I think I had literally thrown up 2 times that night but I didn't care. It was already going on 3am and the club was still insane. Rene, Carmel and Lesley had left at 1am and Elaine was now trying to monitor me on the dance floor.

"Come on, come here…" She attempted to woo me off the catwalk but I pushed her away.

"Just one more song, one more song…" I begged as I twirled my veil around.

"Sarah, don't make me drag you! You just danced with a dude that had one arm and no teeth! COME ON!" Elaine tugged on the back of my corset but I just giggled.

"ONE MORE SONG DAMIT! Hey, where is my Corona… fuckin' asshole, I order that a looooong time ago…" I slurred.

Elaine rolled her eyes trying to apologize to the man standing next me.

"I cut you off a LOOONG time ago." She laughed.

I marched off the catwalk and headed back towards the bar trying to maintain my drunken balance.

"Excuse Mr. but I ORDERED a CORONA a LOOOOONG time ago and if you could please send it my way, that would be a-fucking-mazing." I snapped.

Elaine ran up and tugged at me again. "Sarah, come on, lets go…"

I spun around having enough of the bartender's bitching. "No, not until I get this beer, then we can leave."

She sat down on the stool next to me and sighed seeming to give up. "Okay, well… I am going to go to the bathroom. I WILL be back. When I come back, we ARE leaving. Understood?"

_Just because I'm drunk doesn't mean you have to talk to me like I am two years old…_

"Okay… fine." I moaned and rested my head on the bar top.

_Damn, I was WASTED. Someone shut that freakin' music off already… It was killing my skull. Maybe I should have gone to the bathroom with her… I was totally going to puke again._

I heaved a bit as I lifted my head up and tried to open my eyes. They slid shut and I heard a glass bang next to my head.

_That better be my Corona. Damit!_

I lifted my head back up and smiled contently.

"Still drinking Corona?" I heard a deafeningly familiar voice ask.

"Huh?" I spun around on the stool, feeling sick again.

"Corona…"

My eyes adjusted and when they did I tossed up that last sip and the last 4 corona's on Brandon Boyd's shoes.

"Whoa! Hun, had a few too many!" He stabled me back onto the stool and signaled for the bartender.

"SERIOUSLY!" The bartender yelled as he tossed Brandon a roll of paper towels.

He ripped one off and handed it too me. The rest he tried to soak up by his feet.

"Are you okay?" He questioned seriously as I banged my head into the side of the bar top.

Crying I replied, "I think- I think… I threw up on my veil."

Brandon chuckled a bit and ran a hand on my shoulder. "You need some air, you are way too drunk for this setting, are you here alone?"

I shrugged. "Bathroom, she went to the bathroom."

"Who?" He asked still fussing with his shoes.

"Elaine. She should have been back by now… that was like forever ago."

Brandon nodded. "Come on, let's go outside and wait. I'll get you some water."

"Whatever. You want to wear my Pecker necklace, its AWESOME!" I laughed.

"Sure, come on Sarah." He lifted me up and carried me outside.

The next thing I remember is feeling hard concrete underneath me and Brandon walking barefoot on the sidewalk. He kneeled down beside me and handed me a bottle of water.

"Drink this nice and slow. I don't want you throwing up again."

"Sure thing." I nodded as I stared off into the street. Once the bottle of the Aquafina was gone I think some of my logic was coming back in small doses.

"Brandon… what the hell are you doing here?" I asked bluntly as I fidgeted with my shorts.

He scratched at his ear. "I am doing a show here."

"Ah, that makes sense. Fancy seeing me here, yeah?" I laughed.

He grinned. "Yeah, I guess so huh? Getting married I take it?"

I nodded while crushing the water bottle. "Yup, good old Criss."

Brandon lifted an eyebrow. "You and 'good old Criss' not doing so well?"

"I don't know why I am telling you this… but he cheated on me…" I blurted.

Brandon gasped and then chuckled uneasily. "Hmmm… well, I guess you can't say much in that predicament."

My eyes shot him a nasty glare. "THAT was different."

"THAT was not different. If you really love someone you wouldn't cheat on them, officially together or not." He replied sharply.

I sighed. "Whatever. I shouldn't have brought it up, I only said anything because I am drunk. Forget it."

Brandon shrugged. "Sometimes people are hard to forget maybe you should forget him."

"Maybe you should forget her!" Elaine shouted as she came around the corner seeming out of breath.

Brandon stood up and held out his arms in defense.

"Sarah, where the hell have been I have been looking for you for ages! Come on, we are leaving NOW!" She ranted.

I attempted to stand and Brandon helped me onto my feet.

"I'll see you around?" He questioned.

"Sorry about your shoes… do you want some money or something?" I offered with a laugh.

Brandon rolled his eyes. "No, of course not! Now you are talking like a drunk! I'm just happy I was here to help. Have a good night and if you ever want to talk…"

I nodded. "Sure, yeah. You too."

Elaine scowled at him and signaled for me hurry up.

When I got back to the hotel Elaine helped me to the door and hugged me good-night. I stumbled inside and found Criss wide awake in the bedroom reading. He shut his book closed when I entered the room (_probably looking and smelling like a prostitute_).

He just laughed and raised an eyebrow in response.

"Have a good night or should I say morning?"

It took me a moment to reply. "Yeah, it was fun."

"It sure looks like it." He chuckled again. "Did you get any flashes or numbers?"

"I got some ass grabs and a few sexy dances." I giggled as I made my way into the bathroom.

Criss followed me and watched me as tried to unhook my corset.

"Here, I got it. You look way too loaded to put up with this contraption." He reached around me and untied the back.

"Oh my God, did you puke on yourself?" He took a step backward.

"Ummm… I might have…" I shrugged as I ripped off my costume veil.

"How much did you drink?" Criss questioned sounding concerned.

"Hmm… I don't really know that answer honestly. I lost track. Everyone was buying me stuff for free. You know."

His hands tugged harder on my corset and I heard him sigh. "Right."

"What are you doing still up?" I asked.

He finished unhooking me and I let the top drop carelessly to the floor.

"I was waiting for you I didn't quiet expect you to be back at 5am."

Tugging off my shorts I replied. "I'm sorry… I got carried away with Elaine and everything. Did you have something planned?"

Criss shook his head. "Nah, not really. It's alright. Tonight was your night with the girls and everything. I understand that."

His eyes focused on my stomach and I smiled. "Well, alright then. I'm going to shower and get in bed. I'm tired and still not in such a good frame of mind."

He nodded. "Right, yeah. I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay… goodnight." I grabbed at his hand and pulled him towards me.

He kissed my cheek and whispered. "I love you."

"Sleep good baby." Was all I found as a solid reply.


	11. Chapter 10

**Queen of Hearts**

**Chap. 10**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Saturday**

I woke up to find the other side of the bed once again empty. I thought I remembered Criss telling me that he would see me in the morning but maybe I had remembered wrong. I found a note attached to bathroom mirror that read:

_Sarah,_

_I went out with my family for breakfast to catch up. My cousin George is flying in at 2pm. All of us are going to be out together until around 4ish. I will be back in time for our meeting at the church at 5pm again. I hope you slept well and that you're feeling alright! I left some Tylenol out for you in the kitchen, I've bet you've got a massive hangover! Ha ha! See you soon._

_Love,_

_Criss_

He was right I did have a hangover from hell. I had even forgotten about the meeting with Pastor Klagg until I read his note. My stomach churned just thinking about it. I guess that there really were more problems in our relationship than I was aware of. For instance I should probably have been at breakfast with his family instead of laying around the hotel hung over and sulking. Why was I sulking? Why did it feel like we were broken up instead of engaged? What was wrong with me? What was wrong with this whole picture? Maybe I was just going insane… or maybe I just really needed that damn Tylenol.

Criss arrived back at the hotel at around 4:15pm and we hauled tail to the church. The second we walked into Pastor Klagg's office I thought I was going start sweating bullets. He requested to speak with me one-on-one first and so Criss excused himself into the hallway.

"So, Sarah please tell me why exactly you see yourself as being fit to be married?" Pastor Klagg rested his head into the palm of his hand and adjusted his eyes so that they were level to mine.

I tried to search for a constructive answer. "Well, I feel that I am ready to marry because I am fit to be with someone and I am confident and I am ready to love someone with all the love I have. I am ready to put them before anything else, except God of course and if I have a child. I just feel like I am ready to make that commitment to share myself fully with another person."

Pastor Klagg narrowed his eyes. "By _person _you mean Criss.."

I bit my lip. "Yeah, of course… I wouldn't mean anyone else."

He nodded slowly seeming to analyze my every move. "I see well… has there been anything in your relationship that has made you concerned lately?"

_Was I really that bad at acting?_

"No, not all. Everything is wonderful." I lied.

Pastor Klagg smiled crookedly. "You know can come to God with your worries. Sometimes couples have their ups and their downs and sometimes even the most intimate couples can have secrets. I believe that no couple should have secrets. They should share everything with one another. Honestly is of the utmost importance in maintaining a healthy marriage. Do you feel that Criss is too secretive with his personal life or his career?"

I cleared my throat trying to get over the fact that Pastor Klagg was reading me like an open book. "No, I feel like we are open with one another about pretty much everything and that we always have been. I value that in our relationship."

He nodded again. "Alright, that is wonderful to hear. How about we take a look at Romans chapter-" He flipped open his bible and began to give me a mini-sermon.

After my session was through Criss switched me places and I took a seat on a wooden pew in the hallway. I stared of at the wall at a classical painting of the Last Super and let my mind wander for a moment. I wondered what all Criss was saying to Pastor Klagg behind the office door. What if he was telling the truth? What if he was saying that we were fighting? That he might have gotten someone else pregnant? Nah… he wasn't that dumb…

Stripping my eyes away from the disciples I pulled out my cell phone and decided to send Carmel a text to thank her for the gifts the other night. While I scrolled through my contact lists I saw a different number that caught my attention.

_**Brandon Boyd 1323-555-******_

My eyes widened as I started down at his name. I had never had his number in my phone before. How drunk was I last night? I didn't remember getting his number? Did he steal my phone and put it in my contacts? When did he do that? How did he do that?

Criss stepped out of the office and smiled.

"Are you ready?" He questioned.

Flipping my phone shut I replied, "Umm… yeah."

As we drove back to the hotel all I could think about was my run in with Brandon and if there was any window of time that he could have taken my phone without me noticing. Criss seemed to dislike the silence between us and drowned it out by cranking the radio up so loud the side mirrors were vibrating. I think he was on to me and my distant mood but I couldn't but help to feel like we were drifting farther apart. I watched the city lights fly past as Criss sped down the highway and tapped his wrist against the drive stick to the song, "Breakdown" by Seether.

_The sun is gone and the flowers rot_

_Words are spaces between us_

_And I should've been drowned in the rivers I've found of token lust_

_And I should've been down when you made me insecure_

I glanced over at Criss and sighed feeling as if I should feel more guilty for thinking about Brandon than I did.

_So break me down if it makes you feel right_

_And hate me now if it keeps you alright_

_You can't break me down if it takes all your might_

_'cause I'm so much more than meets the eye_

Criss banged harder against the drive stick humming along with the music and I sighed turning my attention back towards the brilliant city lights. Why should I feel guilty anyhow? It was just run in? I wasn't the one who put the number in my phone… right?

_And I'm the one you can never trust'cause wounds are ways to reveal us_

_And yeah I could have tried and devoted my life to both of us_

_But what a waste of my time when the world we have is yours_

_So break me down if it makes you feel right_

_And hate me now if it keeps you alright_

_You can't break me down if it takes all your might_

_'cause I'm so much more than all your lies_

_Hate me, break me down  
_

_So break me down_

_So break me down_

_So break me down if it makes you feel right_

_And hate me now if it keeps you alright_

_You can't break me down if it takes all your might_

_'cause I'm so much more than meets the eye_

The car slowed as we came to stop light and Criss and shot me a quick glimpse before he stared off through the windshield again. I turned the radio down once the song was over and muttered, "It looks like its going to rain tonight…"

Criss nodded as he headed passed the green light. "Yeah, it does."

His hand found mine in my lap and he gave it a light squeeze. "You don't have to talk about bullshit to humor me. I can tell there is something on your mind, so just go back to looking out the window if that's what is making you happy."

My eyes squinted at him and I replied, "It doesn't make me _happy_."

"Well, I am not the most content right now either Sarah." He replied as he moved his hand away and turned the radio back up.

I flipped it off and folded my arms against my chest. "You didn't even ask me to spend time with you and your family today. Why not?"

"Why not? You were hung over! That's why, like I seriously want to bring you around them with like that. You looked like shit last night." He replied as he passed up a brown van.

"Whatever! I am so tired of you never spending time with me its outrageous!" I slammed my head against the passenger window.

Criss sighed. "Well, what am I supposed to do… if I could clone myself I would but I can't. I'm sorry. I have a very tight schedule you knew that before you committed to all this so why are you all bitchy about it now?"

"I don't know, I guess that I figured MAYBE that these few days before our wedding were supposed to be magical and exciting and fun filled and romantic but in reality it has nothing but hell and drama and fighting." I snapped.

"Tell me about it! Like I really wanted it to pan out this way… yeah, I totally just drummed this all up and thought it would _awesome_." Criss sarcastically rolled his eyes as he pulled into the hotel.

I chewed my inner cheek and unhooked my seatbelt. "Are you staying in tonight or what are you doing?"

He hesitated with his words for a moment as he parked. "Actually… I was going to tell you that Sully and Holly are flying in. They should already be here actually. I am going out with them… I guess. Sully planned _my _party for tonight."

"Oh, I see and since when did Holly become one of the guys?" I retorted.

Criss pulled the keys out of the ignition and shot me an agitated look.

"Whatever, you know. Just fuck it. I am so done having these arguments with you. I _am _going out tonight and that's all I can say. Costa, J.D. and George are going to be with as well. I don't know much else besides that nor what time I'll be home."

"Well, give me the car keys, I'll just go hang out with my mom." I held open my hand.

"Fine but make sure you are back tomorrow by at least 9am because we have a big day planned remember?" Criss reminded as he plopped the keys into my palm.

I nodded. "Right. I know. Have fun tonight."

He headed out of the car muttering. "Yeah, you too."


	12. Chapter 11

**Queen of Hearts**

**Chap. 11**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

_I really was going to go to my moms apartment until _my thoughts started jabbing with my logic again. I drove awhile down the block and pulled into the nearest gas station. I simply had to know what happened between me and Brandon the other night. I decided that the smartest idea was to call him private number. _What if I had completely made a fool out of myself? What if I had promised to see him again unknowingly? _

His line rang four times before he answered and when he did I almost hung up.

"Hello?" He repeated becoming agitated.

"Hey… um, Brandon… this is Sarah. I was just calling to apologize for whatever happened last night." I stuttered as I watched a man walk past my car and towards the propane storage alongside the building.

"Oh! Hi Sarah! What's up? Last night, don't worry about it… they were just tennis shoes." Brandon laughed.

_Oh my God, that's right I threw up all over his shoes… and something about Corona?_

"Yeah, right. Um, hey look did I ask you for your number or did we exchange numbers or something because I just kind of found yours in my phone and it made me curious… I am sorry if I'm rambling."

Brandon took in a deep breath and replied, "No, actually I put my number in your phone. I know that was very blunt of me and somewhat distrustful but I thought that maybe you might want to talk again soon and-"

"What would I want to talk again soon about? If I wanted to I would ask for your number!" I snapped.

"Well, last night you were quiet chatty." He retorted.

"LAST NIGHT I was wasted." I replied angrily.

He paused for a moment. "Hey, calm down… don't take things out on me just because the love of your life is cheating on you!"

My eyes bugged out. "Huh? Who told you that?!"

"YOU did! See, you were VERY talkative." He sighed.

Slamming my head back against the car seat I shut my eyes. "Well, I am sorry to have brought that up, its not any of your business or your concern."

"Where are you right now?" Brandon questioned out of the blue.

"At a gas station, why?" I asked.

"Why aren't you with Criss? Aren't you two supposed to be getting married next week?"

"Yeah, but it's his bachelor party tonight." I replied.

"Oh, I see… well, if you are in the mood for coffee you are more than welcome to join me I was just stepping out for a walk around the town and I was going to grab a cup." He offered.

I bit my bottom lip until it hurt. "Um, sure but I was going to my mom's so I can only be out for a couple hours. What street are you on?"

When I arrived at Starbucks I felt like I was walking into my own demise.

_Why did I agree to meet up with Brandon in the first place? What a stupid and childish idea! I would just simply have a cup of coffee and leave. The end. Nothing more, nothing less._

"Hey, I'm over here." He spun around in his chair and waved.

Taking a seat at the small table next to him I replied, "Hey."

"I ordered you a Carmel latte I hope you like it." He hesitantly smiled as he pushed the drink my way.

I grinned. "No, I mean, yeah… I do… I used to drink these all the time."

Brandon stood up and signaled for the door. "Come on, let's go for a walk."

"Alright." I followed him and we headed back out onto the city block.

A cool breeze brushed by as we turned the corner and I could tell from the dense humidity in the air that the rain wasn't going to hold out too much longer. Brandon strolled alongside me blowing lightly into his hot coffee cup and giving me a glace every so often. He had on the strangest outfit. He was wearing a long button down brown pea coat with faded blue jeans, a checkered scarf and green Converse All-Stars. I wasn't too sure if I hated his attire or if I was slowly falling in love with it.

"So, where are we heading off to?" I questioned as I watched him make a turn down a dark alley way.

"I'm not too sure really, sometimes I just like to check out different areas." He replied with a shrug.

"That's cool. Well, I know this area fairly well and I think this alleyway will take us out towards Michigan Avenue." I glanced around.

Brandon nodded. "That's what I was hoping."

"So what all has been new lately?" I asked struggling to find a topic.

"Not much really. Just touring and trying to get together some more ideas for another album. We've recorded a few more tracks that I am excited about, I think that once they are done with editing and sound checking they will be awesome. Other than that not much. Just been busy with work. How about you?"

We turned onto Michigan Avenue and I felt a single drop of rain hit the bridge of my nose.

Wiping it away I replied, "Meh, well… you know the whole planning for the wedding and such it's a lot of work. More work than I thought that it would be." I paused to laugh. "Oh, speaking of that I have to see if my dress got shipped down here yet… oh my God!"

Brandon chuckled as he elbowed my side. "A little last minute aren't you?"

My eyes rolled. "Yeah, I suppose so but it's been a little hectic between Criss and I to say the least."

Brandon glanced upward into the night sky and muttered, "Yeah… hey, is it raining or is it just me?"

"No, it's raining." I laughed. "I felt a few drops."

"You want to head back?" He questioned.

"No, its alright… if it was going rain any harder than this it would have by now I think. It's looked like it was going to rain all night." I replied as I continued further down the sidewalk.

He shot me a glance and then caught up to me. "So, why did you decide to call me?"

"I guess, I really wanted to know if I made a move on you when I was drunk and set the record straight that it would have been a mistake if I had." I replied bluntly.

Brandon kicked a smashed cigarette pack on the ground. "Right, I can understand that. You didn't make any passes if it makes you feel at ease. But I think that it is a bit awkward that you and Criss are on the rocks again and we are on speaking terms now."

The scattered rain drops turned more into a light drizzle and I zipped up my sweater jacket. "Just because Criss and I are going through some difficult times again doesn't mean that I am emotionally or physically vulnerable to you or anyone else. I am committed to him and this marriage."

Brandon ran a hand through his brown hair and nodded. "Totally, it's awesome that you two are that committed. All I was saying was that this situation is somewhat ironic that's all. Nothing more."

"Alright then." I sighed as I watched a couple with a stroller run across the cross walk to get out of the on coming rain.

"So I know it's not my place to pry but is going on between you two?" Brandon questioned as we turned back around towards the alley way again.

I hesitated upon telling him the truth but eventually my small detailed story grew into long reality. Brandon listened intently every once in awhile interjecting small sentences of common advice or shocked expressions.

"And so now, tonight Holly is going to be at his party and I really don't know how to feel about that." I finished as we walked up to Starbucks again just in time for the down pour of rain.

Brandon held the door open for me and we stepped inside.

"I really don't know what to tell you about the Holly situation. I honestly think that either:

A. She is really pregnant and Criss is lying to about sleeping with her.

B. They did sleep together and Holly is pregnant but she just doesn't know who the father is.

Or,

C. she's making it all up to get you or Criss back some kind of unknown reason."

We sat down at the small table again and I nodded. "I don't know. I haven't seen her yet to even know if she is pregnant. Maybe she's not far enough along to even tell. Who knows? It's just driving me insane."

Brandon fidgeted around in his chair. "Yeah, it would bother the shit out of me as well. I wouldn't stress about it too much until you proof that he did something legitimately wrong. As much as I don't approve of the guy, I will give him the benefit of the doubt."

I smiled and took hold of his hand. "Thanks for the advice, really. It means a lot to me."

He grinned and ran his thumb against my index finger. "No problem any time. Hey, I know you said that you had to get to your moms, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I _should_. What are your plans?"

"I'm going to stay in tonight, I actually have a show tomorrow night. I know its lame a Sunday show. But yeah… I wanted to get early to bed." He let go of my hand and I grabbed my purse.

"Alright then, well… thanks for the coffee and the walk." I said as we headed out.

"Hey Sarah, is this going to be happening again or was this a closure between us only this time on better terms?" Brandon questioned.

I glanced around the room for a moment and then replied, "I have your number now so maybe we'll get together? Have a good night Brandon and a good show tomorrow."

He smiled crookedly and pulled me into a loose hug. "Yeah, good night."

When I got into the car the rain started to beat down so hard I could hardly see a foot in front of me. I decided that it wasn't a good night to drive a half hour to my mom's since I couldn't see a damned thing. The hotel was less than 5 minutes but it took me about 15 since traffic was so blocked up because of the weather. It was around 9pm when I arrived back and I knew that Criss wouldn't be home yet so I stopped by Elaine's suite for awhile and visited with her and Chester. By the time I crawled in bed it was only 11:30pm. All I could think about was how happy I was that Brandon and I were no longer on bad terms. I think that he could actually be a decent friend if he put aside feelings for me. I just wasn't too sure how Criss would take it if he ever found out that we were speaking again…

At around 3am I woke up to a loud banging noise in the living room. My heart raced as I sprung out of bed and nearly screamed.

_What the hell?! _

_Can a hotel room be robbed?_

My sleep ridden body flopped towards the closed bedroom door and my fears were instantly dulled by the sound of Criss' voice.

"Seriously, thank you so much for everything tonight. That was amazing." He said sounding as if had way too much to drink.

"Don't worry about it. I enjoyed it, especially when you got on stage… oh my God!" Holly laughed hysterically.

_Whoa, wait a minute… Holly…_

"That was fantastic, did you see the look on J.D's face-Priceless!" Criss replied.

"Did you see the look on mine?" Holly questioned.

Criss chuckled. "Yeah, it was more… how should I say it… 'used to that environment'?"

"I could get more used to you on the stage half naked." She clapped.

Criss must have walked closer to the bedroom door because his voice grew louder. "Whatever you say. I still say its more your forte not mine hun. Anyway… I'm going to head off to shower and crash."

I heard Holly's heels click against the floor. "Yeah, I definitely need to do the same as well. Have a pleasant night babe."

Her heels stopped next to the bedroom door and I felt it shake against my ear.

_What the hell was going on?!_

I heard Criss laugh a bit and reply, "Oh yeah, now I will. Thanks for that."

"Oh come on. I had to! One more ass grab for womankind! Ha ha! Good night."

"Night Holly." I saw the door knob turn and dashed back towards the bed.

Criss switched on the lights just in time to find me buried under the covers out of breath.

"Sarah?" He whispered as he sat down on the side of the bed.

"Sarah, get up… I can tell you are awake." He laughed.

I sat up lifting the covers off of my head. "Yeah?"

"I thought you were going to your moms tonight?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Yeah I was going to but I stopped a few places first and on the way there it was raining too hard so I turned around and came back."

Criss nodded as he ran a hand against my cheek. "God, you're so beautiful."

My eyes narrowed into his. "Criss, you're wasted go change and get to bed."

His fingers lopped though my hair as he replied, "I am. I know that but that doesn't make me blind it just makes me more honest."

I smiled and took hold of his hand. "Did you have a good time baby?"

"Yeah, it was great. Sorry about bringing Holly back inside, she wanted to make sure I got to the door okay and her room is across from ours." He explained.

I shrugged. "Whatever, its okay."

"Hey, come on… come take a shower with me?" Criss' eyes playfully hinted towards the bathroom.

"Babe, it's 3am and you're probably more tired than your think you really are." I sighed and laid back down.

He stood up and muttered, "You have no idea just how _tired _I am."

"Huh?" I rubbed at my forehead.

"I miss you. We never spend any time together anymore. When is the last time we actually had sex?" Criss tossed his hands out.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh please, we do all the time…"

"Give a date." Criss raised an eyebrow curiously. "I'm waiting…"

I shut my eyes and bit my lip. "Well, yeah… but okay… so maybe it has been awhile."

"See." He replied. "And like that doesn't stress me out any!"

I sat back up and faced him. "I'm sorry. There's just been a lot going on lately. You know that."

He nodded while he chewed on his thumb. "I'm not trying to piss you off by bringing it up or force you into anything. I just feel like maybe something is really wrong."

"Well, no. Everything is alright there." I assured.

Criss stitched his eyebrows and groaned. "Then… I don't see a problem with the shower."

I laughed. "Baby, you are relentless."

"I'm a man." He chuckled. "Besides, you aren't supposed to pull the 'withhold sex card' until we are officially married."

I smiled sarcastically. "Right, but I thought we weren't doing anything until your burns were healed?"

Criss grinned smugly and replied, "You haven't bothered to undress me to find out."

_I guess he was right, I hadn't. _

I eyed his body over for a moment and found myself thinking about how ignorant I had been lately. How much time and energy we both had wasted on arguing and bickering when in all actuality we had been denying each other of one another despite our drama. I drew in a deep breath and focused my stare on his shoes. _Somehow in the back of mind I half expected them to be green Converse All Stars. _


	13. Chapter 12

**Queen of Hearts**

**Chap. 12**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

Criss eventually headed off into the shower by himself that night and I curled up into a tight ball on the side of the bed. I wondered to myself what exactly was _my _problem and if we actually had an issue between _us _or if it was all just inside _my _own head. Maybe things would have been less confusing if I would have never called Brandon but on one side of the coin I was thrilled that there didn't seem to be hard feelings between him and I anymore. Then again, when did "no hard feelings" and intimate feelings become blurred? I wasn't too sure what the answer to that was_. _I also wasn't too sure where Criss stood with Holly. Maybe Criss was feeling the exact same way about Holly as I was feeling about Brandon like he was confused and in a time warp?

My arms stretched underneath the pillow and I turned my head to the side with loud sigh. Criss came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a loose towel around his waist. I could tell from the sour look on his face that he still wasn't over the fact that I had turned him down.

_Criss Angel wasn't used to women turning him down… maybe it would end up humbling him a little. Or, maybe it end up driving us both insane? Who knew… I was too concerned with other matters at hand to care about my sexual needs and or desires along with his as selfish as that might have been. _

I shut my eyes when I saw him drop the towel to his ankles and give his damp hair another shake.

_His burns were in fact healed…_

"Hey…" He muttered. "I forgot to tell you that I called the florist today and the caterer."

"Oh, yeah… what did they say?" My eyes sluggishly popped back open to see him wearing a pair of navy blue sweat pants.

"The florist will have everything set up in the church by noon on Monday. You did want roses with lily of the valley correct?" He double checked as he laid down next to me.

"Yeah, that's right. Pink, red and yellow with white and light blue lily of the valley." I replied.

"Yeah, that's what I thought we agreed on. The reception is still going to be here. They are closing up the top of the Ritz for us. Then when we fly back to Vegas we are scheduled to have a party at the Luxor. After that… well, I am taking a week off of from the show for our honeymoon but that's a surprise where we are going." He smiled.

I grinned. "A surprise?"

"Yeah, if we make it to then." He laughed a bit uneasily.

I buried my face deeper inside the pillow again and drew in a deep breath.

"So at the church tomorrow bright and early?" I said through yawn.

"Yeah. Big day… I can't believe we are getting married in less than 2 days…" Criss reached for the lamp alongside the bed and clicked it off.

I rolled onto my side and curled up against him.

"Me either. Hey, reminded me call about my dress?"

He ran a hand through my hair and replied, "I already called. It just came in today. You can try it on again tomorrow I'm sure. The hotel is holding it for you downstairs."

"You really do want to go through with all of this don't you?" I questioned seriously.

Criss nodded through the dark. "I love you Sarah. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, if I didn't I would have never asked you to be my wife in the first place."

Smiling I whispered, "I love you too. I'm sorry I've been a bitch lately. I guess I've just been concerned about Holly and nervous about everything."

His fingers grazed along my cheek. "I am actually very nervous as well. Don't think that I'm not. I'm worried that maybe you won't be able to handle me or my career or what have you, but one thing that I am NOT worried or nervous about is Holly. I honestly think that she is just blowing smoke out of her ass."

My legs entangled around his and I tucked my head underneath his chin. "I hope so because I couldn't live if you broke my heart."

Criss planted a soft kiss on the top of my head and whispered, "Why would I break it if I couldn't survive without it?"

~*~

**Sunday**

I woke up with a massive headache. It was the kind of headache were you feel like your entire skull is being crushed by a steamroller on the outside while having a million alarm clocks blaring on the inside. A migraine was a better terminology for it. By noon I was ready to down an entire bottle of Exdrine Extra Strength and climb back into bed but unfortunately I stuck in a cramped dressing room instead trying to squeeze into the wedding dress that _had _once fit me.

"Okay, just 5 more little buttons in the back and one zipper." My mom assured as she and Elaine tried to pull tighter on the unbendable fabric.

I exhaled as much as I could and drew in my stomach further with my arms held up against the wall.

"Okay, got the buttons, now just like… maybe 3 inches of zipper left…" Elaine muttered sounding as if she was exasperated.

Struggling to breath I replied, "I think it is cutting off my circulation!"

My mom slapped at my back and gave the dress another giant tug from underneath my breasts.

"One more inch…" Elaine sighed.

"It won't go another damned inch without me breaking it!" I cussed as I pushed them both away feeling cluster phobic.

Elaine narrowed her eyes into mine and shook her head. "Seriously, this is bad news. Your wedding is TOMORROW!"

My mom tried tugging on the dress again and I waved my hand to single that it wasn't worth the fuss.

"It will fit, I will just not eat anything tonight or tomorrow and it'll be fine… hopefully… if not… we can pin it or something, right?" I groaned.

"Come on, let's give it one more try!" My mom pushed me back against the wall and Elaine tugged at the zipper until I heard my mom clap.

"Success!" Elaine yelled so loud my head echoed it back.

After my insane dress fitting we went down to rehearsals at 3pm and went over everything from pew arrangements to lighting of candles and where we wanted guests to sign in. Criss and I really weren't having an elaborate wedding. If anything it was probably more low key than what mine would have been if I was with someone who wasn't "famous". I suppose in a way that part of me wanted a lavish _celebrity _wedding and another half of me just wanted to go to the court house and get it done with already. However what we were doing was dead in the center of those two choices. It was something small and quiet, that hopefully wouldn't be all over the front gossip pages the next day. JD and Costa and George were going to be Criss' Groom's men and Elaine, Lesley and Carmel were going to be my brides maids. JD was Criss' man of honor and of course Elaine was my maid of honor. We didn't have a flower girl but I was alright with that. In total we had about 50 people coming which most of them where my family and friends that were local. I thought that 50 people was a decently small number to keep the wedding rumors at a minimum. I suppose in a way that it really didn't matter to Criss how the precession went since he had done it all before, I guess he really just wanted it go well for me.

"Babe, come here…" Criss signaled for to follow him out of the church after he ended a conversation on his cell phone.

"Hold on, I'll be right back Dimitra." I told his mom as I handed her a pen to place by the guest book.

"What's up?" I questioned as I watched Criss pace around on the sidewalk.

He scratched at his ear for a moment and seemed to hesitate with his words.

"I, ugh… I just got a call from Serge at Cirque and…" He paused for a moment to glance up at the sky. "And I found out that they need to stay and continue my Believe show the week we are supposed to take off on our Honeymoon since I didn't give enough notice. I guess that there were already 3 shows that week that were sold out prior to me booking our time off. So I rearranged our trip for July."

_July! It was May…_

I watched a cloud that was drifting by. It looked similar to a turtle and shrugged.

"Whatever. Yeah, July… sure."

"I'm soooo sorry!" Criss grabbed at my shoulder and reached down for my hand. "I promise I will make it up to you. Wait until you see where we are going. You will love it, I swear."

The cloud separated and billowed itself in half. The turtle formation became nothing but two blobs and frowned.

"Yeah, I'm sure babe. Come on… we have to go practice walking down the isle."

Criss gave me one last steady glance to judge my mood before we walked inside but I remained solemn.


	14. Chapter 13

**Queen of Hearts **

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 13**

Our rehearsal was wrapped up by about 4pm and Criss and I headed back to the hotel to check and make sure that the reception planning was going along as has we had intended. Once we were done with that I decided to skip out on dinner with his family since my dress was just barely zipping as it was already. Criss told me that he wouldn't be back late so I decided that an appropriate option "B" was to take a long walk instead of shoveling back carbohydrates.

As I was on my way out of the hotel I heard the sound of high heels clicking closely behind me in the hallway. I turned around next to the elevator area and spotted Holly trying to balance two shopping bags from Macy's, a giant shoe box from Nine West and her oversized Coach bag into her hotel room door.

My eyes rolled back at the mere sight of her. She was wearing a low cut baby blue dress with strap high heels and had a matching hair pin in her bleach blonde extensions. I _knew _they had to be extensions because the last time I saw her hair it was only just past her shoulders but now it was hanging just above her waistline.

_She did NOT look pregnant. She looked anything BUT pregnant._

She turned and glanced over at me with a half smile.

"Hey." I muttered with a small wave.

"Hey… how are you?" She called back from across hallway.

The elevator opened in front of me and I was half tempted to just get in and ignore her.

My feet hesitated a bit and I spun around to face her direction. "Um, I'm doing good. Yeah, you?"

"I'm good…" She balanced the shoe box on her knee.

"Do you need some help?" I questioned as I watched a shopping bag teeter off of her shoulder.

"Nah, it's alright. You know me. I LOVE shopping." She paused to laugh. "I'll see you tomorrow at 3pm though! Congrats!" She grinned widely her white teeth nearly blinding me.

"Yeah, thanks… you too." My eyes slit into an unsure emotion.

Holly bit her lip. "Oh, yeah. Um… thank you. Sorry if that has been difficult or anything. I didn't want to cause any drama…."

_Bitch go shove those expensive bags up your ass!_

"Right, sure. It's okay. I suppose that shit happens you know. We'll see about all this in the future. We just have to take it one day at a time." I sighed as I pressed rapidly on the elevator panel again.

"I agree. Have a good night and get some rest. You have a BIG day tomorrow!" Holly replied as she closed her door.

Finally I made my way outside and was able to take a breathe of fresh air. I really just needed to think and clear my head. I needed to escape. I wanted to run away from that whole entire mess. My stomach felt like it was going eat itself. I hadn't eaten all day, I was starving and my head was still jack hamming away. I seriously needed a massage or a long island ice tea. _Holy shit, I STILL needed to get my nails done! What the hell, where was my brain… I needed to get all the girls nails done… I needed to make sure that Lesley was going to be early to the wedding to do my up-do. I needed to call my dad. I needed to…_

I headed straight back to the hotel dragging my feet and wanting nothing more than to finish that walk with a clear head.

_Thank God I had professional beauty connections. _It was insanely last minute but I called Elaine, Carmel and Lesley. Lesley did me a HUGE favor and opened up my old salon Shear Envy that she had taken over when I went to Vegas. Lesley called in our nail tech. named Kathy who had worked there for ages. She was a middle aged redheaded women with a spunky personality that I loved. I was blessed that she came in on such a short notice. We all got both pedicures and manicures with colors to match our dresses. I got a nice light pink and the girls all got a pretty fuchsia to accent their dress.

On our way out Lesley decided that it would a good idea to grab a drink but I told her that I had to get back since I knew that Criss would be home soon. She agreed to coming in the morning and doing my hair and her and the girls headed out their separate ways.

When I arrived at the hotel I was surprised that Criss wasn't back yet. It was already nearing 9pm. Where in the hell was he? I paced around agitated in the bedroom as I mentally went over all of the things I had to do the next morning before the wedding.

_God, I was nervous._

_Maybe I was JUST hungry?_

_No, definitely nervous…_

My cell phone rang clearing my thoughts of how bad it would be if my dress STILL didn't fit that next day.

"Hello?" I answered as I took a seat on the bed.

"Sarah? This is Kevin… I'm sorry to be calling so late. I know it's been a few years. But, ugh… I was just out and about in town and I SWEAR I just you?"

My heart flip flopped about 180 degrees.

_Now I was REALLY nervous._

"Kevin? As in Kevin Ingalman? Shut up!" I gasped. I really didn't need to ask for him confirm who is was. I knew the voice by memory.

"Yeah! No, it's me. Like I said, I was just calling to see if you were in fact in town… I'm sorry if this weird." He replied with an uneasy laugh.

My eyes shut trying to take in the fact that he was on the other line.

"No, I am here. I'm staying at a hotel. I was out by your side of the city tonight because I was getting my nails done."

"I thought so. Since when do you drive a Benz! I saw you and Lesley outside of the salon about an hour ago but you don't work there anymore, right?" He questioned.

I laughed. "No, no… I work in Vegas now. I'm just visiting for the time being. I'm here to get married."

The other line got dead silent for a moment. "Married?! Holy shit… now I really feel like an ass for calling."

"Nah, really… it's okay." I assured as my leg bounced against the carpet.

"So, who is the lucky man, anyone I would know?" He asked blandly.

I hesitated for a moment and then decided to be honest. "Actually, you might… have you ever heard of Criss Angel?"

There was a long pause again before he replied, "Get the hell out of here,"He laughed. "No really… who are you marrying?"

I smirked. "Criss Angel, honestly. It's a bit of a long story."

"Well, if this is true… I most certainly have the time to hear it." Kevin responded.

"Kevin, its more of a sit down conversation." I giggled.

"I'm up for some coffee if you are? I miss you! I haven't talked to you in years, why do you think I called?" He replied.

I bit my bottom lip and drew in a deep breath. "Well, I…"

Just then the bedroom door opened and Criss walked in carrying a doggy bag.

"Hey, babe. I'm sorry I'm a little later than I expected. That restaurant was packed. I brought you some pasta." He set the box down in front of me on the bed and kissed my forehead.

"Sarah?" Kevin chimed in my ear.

"Yeah, sorry. I'm here. Can you call me on Tuesday though? I really would like to catch up with you Kev, I just need to get some sleep before the "big day" and everything." I muttered.

Criss raised an eyebrow once he discovered that I was talking on the phone.

I gave him a signal to hold on a minute.

"Sure. Will do. Have a good night with 'Criss Angel'." Kevin replied.

"Yeah, you too. Buh-bye." I hung up with dramatic sigh.

Criss shot me a confused glance as I peaked inside of the brown doggy bag.

"Thanks for the pasta." I smiled crookedly.

He nodded as he shoved his hands inside of his pants pockets. "Sure. Who was on the phone?"

"Actually, that was Kevin…" I replied uneasily.

"Kevin, who is Kevin?" Criss asked seeming lost.

I hesitated. "He is my ex-boyfriend."

His eyes widened. "Oh, yeah that guy that you had a zillion pictures of in your apartment. I remember him now… kind of shorter… darker hair, blue eyes. THAT Kevin?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's him alright."

Criss took a seat next to me on the bed. "I didn't know that you two still kept in contact?"

"No, we haven't. He saw me out in town tonight and called me out of the blue. I have no idea why. Isn't that strange?" I shrugged.

Criss nodded. "Yeah… it sure is. I'd be careful of his intentions. Guys just don't call after years and years for nothing. Usually they find out that they either had their head up their ass when they were with you or they miss something _else _about you, if you know what mean?"

"Yeah I do. I just am somewhat curious as to what he wants exactly. I mean, I do miss talking to him, we were together for a long time…" I replied in thought.

Criss rubbed my neck. "Just take it slow and be cautious like I said. I'd rather you talk to him than the asshole I ran into tonight."

My eyebrows stitched. "Who did you see tonight?"

His hand rubbed a bit harder on my neck and I pulled away with a frown.

"I saw Brandon a few blocks from Michigan Avenue."

My jaw instantly tensed.

_There went my idea of Criss ever warming up to him. _

"Oh… I see."

"Whatever. It doesn't matter anyhow. He probably has no idea we are here… I don't think he saw me. You don't have to worry about that baggage again baby." Criss wrapped his arm around my waist and I leaned back against his chest.

"Are you alright? You seem distant tonight or something?" He asked.

"No, I'm fine… I'm just tired and thinking about all the things we have to do in the morning." I fibbed.

"Well, you should eat a little something. Your stomach sounds like a tornado." Criss chuckled as he set the doggy bag into my lap.

I gave it a screwed up look and stood up. "I think I'm past the point of eating for today… maybe we should just head off to bed."

He shot me a concerned glance and followed me to the mini fridge where I stored the food away.

"Hey, you know something?" He questioned cutely as I shut the fridge door.

"What's that?" I asked.

"I love you." He smiled reassuringly.

"I love you too." My lips found his.


	15. Chapter 14

**Queen of Hearts**

**Chap. 14**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Monday**

Somehow I managed to squeeze myself into my wedding dress so that if fit just as perfectly as it had in Vegas. The dress was beyond gorgeous. It was a strapless taffeta style gown with a bodice that was decorated with lace and diamonds. The waist was a Basque design and had a fuller bottom train that was also accented with lace and diamonds. My veil was smaller so it wouldn't offset the train of my dress and make me look overly done. The veil itself was made out of the same lacey material that my dress was decorated with and the band that stuck it to my up-do was studded with tiny diamonds as well.

_I felt like a princess… a very expensive princess._

Lesley coated the top of my hair with a massive amount of hairspray again as my mom helped me slip into my matching heels. "Aw, let me get another picture!" Elaine giggled as I rested my hand on my mom's shoulder to balance myself while she fastened my shoes.

"ANOTHER one!" Lesley laughed as she waved the aerosol fumes away from our faces.

"Just one more… I promise, that's all for now anyway…" Elaine replied as she flashed off her digital camera again.

"So, are you getting nervous?" My mom questioned seriously as she brushed her hand against my cheek.

Glancing at myself in the mirror I replied, "No, I am just ready to get this over with and everything… more or less…"

Elaine snorted. "I can tell you are nervous! You're shaking!"

I heard Lesley slam down the hairspray. "She is probably just anxious."

My mom smiled and whispered, "It's just you and Criss and no one else. Just image only you two alone in the room."

I shut my eyes for a moment. "Thanks mom. I love you."

"I love you too hunny. I'm so proud of you! Look at you all grown up!" Her eyes welled up with tears and I heard Elaine snap another picture.

I paced around the small dressing room waiting for my cue to walk out and be greeted in the hallway by my dad. I couldn't believe that our time in Chicago had gone by so fast. I couldn't believe that we were getting married already…_ I was getting married, in minutes. _

My dad knocked on the door and I came out with a smile. He looked so handsome in his suite and tie. It had been awhile since I had seen my dad dressed so nicely. He even took the time out to gel his hair back. His hand held onto mine and I felt his lips softly press against my forehead.

"I love you Sarah, I think you are doing the right thing, I wanted to tell you that before we go out there. I am sorry for being so bullheaded about Criss. I am just wary about giving my little girl away."

I grinned and squeezed his hand. "No, it's alright dad. I understand. I love you too."

The walk down the isle seemed to take a decade. The organ music sounded more like a score in a dramatic lifetime movie. _Man, my nerves really were shot. _Everyone was starring up at me with brilliant smiles and looks of anticipation from the pews. I was more concerned that my legs were going to give out from underneath me and that I would trip on my elegant dress. My dad left my side and took a seat in the front row and that's when I began to grow nauseous. Pastor Klagg smiled at me as I stood across from Criss and began to open our ceremony.

"You okay?" Criss mouthed my way while the pastor lead everyone into prayer.

I nodded hesitantly.

"You look beautiful." He smiled with his hands folded below his waist.

"Thank you. You look amazing." I blew him a small kiss.

The prayer ended and Pastor Klagg began to start a small sermon on marriage and being one with God. My mind wondered as I looked over at Criss' family. Costa and J.D. were silently sitting next to one another listening to the sermon and his mom was trying to figure something out on her camera with George.

_Could I really deal with the fact that Criss was so incredibly close to his family? What if he really hadn't accepted his dad's death and that was the reason why he was always trying to "beat death" with all of his crazy illusions and stunts? _

Pastor Klagg walked away from the podium and stood between the two of us.

"Now, join as hands and turn to each other-" Pastor Klagg instructed.

I turned toward Criss and held onto his hands. My was suddenly mind running over a million things at once.

_And what about Holly? What if she really was pregnant? What if the baby really was his? Then what would we do? Why was he being so ridiculous about our Honeymoon anyway? Once again, that just proved that his career was more important than me… And what about Brandon and Kev-_

"I, Criss,Take you, Sarah,To be my wifeAnd these things I promise you:I will be faithful to you and honest with you; I will respect, trust, help and care for you; I will share my life with you; I will forgive you as we have been forgiven; and I will try with you to better understand ourselves, the world, and God; through the best and the worst of what is to come as long as we both shall live." Criss smiled brightly at me and held onto my hands tighter.

_Oh my God… we were already at the Vows? Where had I been?! Shit!_

Their must have been a longer pause than I thought because Criss jiggled my arms a bit and Pastor Klagg raised an eyebrow at me.

I heard my mom cough loudly from her pew and someone whisper the words, "Oh no.."

My hands grew sweaty inside of Criss's grip and I drew in a deep breath.

"I, Sarah…

Take you, Criss,

To be my Husband…

And these things I pro-promise you;

That I will be faithful to you

And honest with you." I paused and bit my lip.

Criss dropped my hands. "Then be honest me with now!"

Pastor Klagg cleared his throat seeming to be taken back.

His eyes searched deeply into mine and I felt my mascara beginning to run down my cheek.

"I can't do this. I'm sorry." I whispered. "I just can't. These vows mean nothing when we aren't even living them right as it is."

Criss distorted his face and stood there frozen for a moment. "I- I can't believe you are doing this to me."

The room was so quiet I think I could hear someone chewing gum 5 pews back. Pastor Klagg didn't bother to say a word and calmly shut his bible with a disappointed scowl.

Criss remained at the alter appearing utterly broken as I turned my back on him and headed back down the isle. Tears blinded my vision as I hurried my was out. Luckily my heels didn't give me hell.

"Sarah! Wait! Come back!" Criss shouted from the corridor of the cathedral.

"Why? Just tell me why! That's all… I need to know!" He begged.

I spun around and noticed that the entire wedding party was watching intently us with dropped jaws.

"I just can't handle this Criss. I have too many 'whys' and 'how comes' of my own about you anymore that I need to figure out. Maybe I never will…" I replied as I continued my way out of the church.

He followed me again jogging down the stairs and standing directly in front of my path of exit.

"I can fix it, I promise… just come on, let's talk about all this… we'll call an intermission or something?" He frantically tossed his arms out in the air.

I shook my head. "You don't call intermissions on your career or on fucking Holly!"

I heard someone gasp from inside the church.

Criss groaned. "Oh come on seriously, is THAT what THIS is all about!"

"Yeah, of course that is what THIS is about!" I snapped as I tried to move around him but my gown was too restricting.

"I have done everything I can to prove to you that I'm not messing around with her anymore. And you knew that my career is my life before you agreed to any of this! What the hell is your problem?" He pegged me the railing of the staircase.

"Obviously you!" I retorted. "If you can't rearrange anything in your 'busy' life for me then you have issues. I have done so many things to conform to your lifestyle. I gave up my family and my friends to be with you and this is what I get in return? A possible baby daddy and death obsessive husband who is a millionaire magician with an ego the size of this building… nah, I'll leave it." I fumed.

Stepping out of my way he replied, "I think you're the one with the ego trip right now, Hun."

I stormed passed him and busted my through the glass doors. Once I walked outside 13 doves flew passed me out from behind the church and off into the sun.

_Strange I never remember ordering doves?_

I took a seat on the large rock next to the church sidewalk. I really didn't care about my dress or what I looked like anymore. All wanted was for someone to take me home. _Too bad I didn't know where my home was anymore._


	16. Chapter 15

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 15**

**3 Days Later**

I laid wide awake in the guestroom of my moms apartment and tried to gather up the gumption to actually get myself out of bed. For the past few days I hadn't done much of anything other than lay around her house with a blank expression written on my face. Most of my family members were no longer speaking to me including my mom. She was so upset with my decision to leave Criss that she would only talk to me if necessary. In the entire 3 days I had been staying at her apartment she had only been home long enough to bring me back my suitcases from the Ritz with Elaine. In all honestly I really wasn't even sure where my mom was staying. She was _that upset _she hadn't even told me where she went off to. Elaine was just as furious as my mom was. She wasn't returning my calls and neither was Chester. I couldn't understand why everyone was against me so much they didn't even bother to take the time out and hear my feelings on the situation.

Maybe I was crazy for leaving him? Maybe I was just plain crazy? What if I was having cold feet about the wedding last minuet and I would suddenly one day wake up out of my stupor and realize what an ass I had made out of myself? I wasn't sure just how I felt at that moment in time but I was certain that I wasn't secure enough in our relationship to be married yet.

Criss was no longer speaking to me. I didn't blame him for that. He told me that he didn't want to have anything to do with me for a _long, long, long_ time. How long a _long, long, long time _was… I wasn't too clear on but I decided that I wouldn't be the first person to make the phone call. I figured that he had already flown back to Vegas and was probably back into the routine of his Believe show with Elaine as his assistant. I had no idea about my job but I really wasn't concerned about that. I needed some more time to regroup and reorganize my mental frame of mind before I jumped back into work, unless he had in fact fired me…

My cell phone rang interrupting my daze on the ceiling. I hesitated a bit before I answered.

"Hello?" I muttered.

"Hey, Sarah. How did everything go?" Kevin questioned excitedly.

My heart sped up and I ran a hand over my forehead.

"Umm… hey Kevin. Yeah, not so good… I called the wedding off."

"Wait, what?!" He exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's a long story." I sighed.

"Well, are you still up for coffee?" He questioned.

I really didn't want to go out. Honestly, I just wanted stay home and sleep some more. It seemed like all I was good at the past few days was sleeping. Kevin picked me up and we headed back to his place a few miles from my moms. He had a decent two bedroom house with a small fenced in backyard. I was shocked at the size actually. He explained to me that he had taken a job in accounting a few years ago and was making decent figures. When I walked inside I was even more surprised to see how tidy everything was. Back when we had dated that was one of my biggest pet peeves about him was how messy he was. Strange how a few years can change people.

"I'll put a pot on. Have a seat." Kevin motioned towards the grey couch in the living room.

I sat down and stretched my legs out on the matching foot rest.

"So tell me everything." He said as I heard him take two cups out of the cabinet.

"Oh, boy… I really don't know where to start?" I giggled.

"Start where _we _left off." A spoon banged in the back around.

I thought for a moment and then decided to tell him about my first trip to Vegas with Elaine where I had entered the contest for the Luxor at a hair show.

Kevin took a seat next to me and handed me my coffee. "Wow, so you must have been shocked that you got called back?"

"Yes, I was so excited. But I really had no idea who Criss Angel was." I laughed.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, how small of a world do you live in?"

"I'm really not into magic Kevin. You know that." I replied trying to make myself look a little better.

He waved his hand in the air for me to continue with the story. "Okay, so anyway…"

I proceeded to tell him about my "lucky 13" note and my first run in with Criss at the bar where I had spilled my drink all over him and burned his boot. Kevin laughed uncontrollably at that story and got even more involved when I told him about my first encounter with Holly Madison.

By the time I had told him the entire story from beginning to end we had finished the whole pot of coffee and it was going on midnight.

"Wow, Sarah… that is the most intense… insane and saddest thing I have ever really heard." He ran a hand through his tipped brown hair.

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, it is crazy… sorry I told you it would take awhile."

Kevin half smiled. "I don't mind that it took so long. I'm happy that you shared it with me." His arm slithered behind me and I wiggled around feeling a little uncomfortable.

"So why did you call me now after so long?" I questioned curiously.

He shrugged. "Like I said, I saw you that night and I had a million memories flood my mind. I know it sounds ridiculous or what have you but I was thinking about you earlier that day." His hand brushed against my cheek and felt my stomach flip.

"Right… what where you thinking about?" I asked nervously.

Kevin narrowed his crystal blue eyes into mine and replied, "How much fun we used have together."

"_I'd be careful of his intentions. Guys just don't call after years and years for nothing. Usually they find out that they either had their head up their ass when they were with you or they miss something else about you, if you know what mean?"_ Criss's voice rang in the back of my mind and drew in a deep breath.

"Enlighten me on fun Kev…" I said blandly as I set my coffee cup down on the end table.

He smirked. "You know… we really did have a lot of _crazy _times together, if you get what I am saying?"

I shook my head. "No, not really. I remember that you cheated on me and left me out in the middle of nowhere with a busted radiator in my old truck at that party. That was a _crazy _time."

His eyes rolled. "I was drunk. She was hitting on me! What do you expect!"

"I expected you to be a man and say 'I'm taken and my girl is in the other room'. Duh!" I snapped.

"Whatever Sarah. That was HOW many years ago. Think about how many good times we could have now?" He insisted as he cupped my face into his hands.

I brushed him off. "I should get going, this is too much for me handle. I really just came here to chat and catch up, not to patch up our damage that can't be fixed."

"Then why break off your wedding after I called? Answer that!" He retorted.

"Oh my God Kevin! Seriously… get a life… that had NOTHING to do with you!" I stood up and reached for my purse.

"It just seemed a little a fishy to me, don't lie to yourself Sarah… you know you are still in love with me." He said confidently as he followed me to the door.

"I am not in love with you and I will never be in love with you again. Good-bye Kevin." I walked out feeling like I had been emotionally raped.

I really needed to talk to someone. I really needed a _friend_. That's all I wanted. Just a friend. Someone to hang out with and laugh with, someone to listen and be there for me. Someone to actually somewhat understand that Criss wasn't in fact as much of an "Angel" as every one deciphered him to be. _Who could I call at midnight? Who would put up with my shit? Who could come and pick me up from this fucking neighborhood! Damn, I needed my car. Too bad that was also in Vegas. _

"Get in here." Brandon laughed as he pulled up about a half of a mile from Kevin's house.

"Thank God. Thank you so much for coming here!" I smiled gratefully as I got inside of his rental car.

"He didn't hurt you did he?" He questioned seriously before he put the car back into drive.

Shaking my head 'no' I replied, "He just needs to get over himself that's all."

"There are a lot of pricks that need to grow up." Brandon gunned his way out of the neighborhood and turned the radio down.

"Where's Criss?" He asked sarcastically.

I sighed having enough of people bringing him up. "Gone in Vegas. We're over. I didn't go through with the wedding. Too much bullshit that we still need to hatch out."

Brandon nodded. "I see. I don't blame you after the Holly incident. I really hope you are holding up alright. Where am I taking you then?"

I shrugged. "Well, I was actually going to ask you a favor?"

"Besides interrupting my _busy _night to come and pick you up?" He laughed.

I stuck out my tongue. "I was going to see if you could maybe take me to that gas station up ahead. I am dying for a fucking cigarette!"

Brandon chuckled. "No problem."

The first drag of my Marlboro Light tasted like I was literally inhaling an exhaust pipe from a car. I hadn't smoked in nearly a year. It gave me such a bad buzz my head felt I was floating between the "turtle" cloud I had seen the day before my wedding. Somehow even though the cigarette made me feel like shit I still wanted to finish the entire pack.

Brandon parked his car outside of hotel SAX. We sat outside for a bit while I lit up my second cigarette and Brandon joined in.

"I seriously am so tired of everyone and their shit." I muttered as I glanced out the window.

Brandon blew out a puff of smoke and replied, "I hear you. I take it your family is on Criss's side of the matter?"

I nodded as I tossed my cigarette out. "Yeah, pretty much. They all think that he is like God or something. It's freaking insane."

"Well, just because someone can charm the pants off of a monkey doesn't mean they aren't one as well." Brandon replied.

I raised an eyebrow at his silly comment and giggled. "What the hell does that mean?"

He chuckled. "It means, he is just like the rest of them, he isn't any better than you or me."

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"Are you staying at your moms?" Brandon asked curiously.

"Yeah. I am. She's so upset with me right now that she won't speak to me though. I feel like I am in high school or something. This is all so retarded."

"You can stay here if you like until I have to fly out. I leave over the weekend. I have another show Saturday in Michigan." He offered.

I hesitated with my logic for a moment.

"I really don't have the money to stay here. I would if I could but I don't have a job at the moment."

Brandon waved his hand in the air as if to dismiss that topic. "You can stay in my suite. It's not a big deal. Don't worry."

I shot him an uneasy and glance and he rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm not going to try anything if that's what you thinking… I'm not Mr. what's-his-hard-on down the road."

I laughed. "Okay. I'll crash here tonight and see how it goes."

"'See how it goes' you act like I have a fucking plague or something." He replied as we got out the car.

"No, I'm just kind of anti-men right now. Honestly, all men seriously suck." I followed him into the hotel with yawn.

"I prefer blowing, it's easier on my jaw." He joked with a wink.

Brandon set me up on the pull out couch of his suite. It was much more comfortable than I thought it would be. At first he insisted that I sleep in his bed but I won our agreement after a game of childish thumb war.

"I call a rematch in the morning." He hollered from his bedroom.

"Whatever, I won… fair and square!" I giggled as I climbed under the sheets.

"IN THE MORNING! Ha! Have a good night Sarah." He replied.

"Goodnight Brandon." I called back.

_Yeah, in the morning… Maybe I really was going insane?_


	17. Chapter 16

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 16**

**The next morning**

I woke up to a soft brush against my cheek and it took me a moment to adjust to my unfamiliar surrounds.

"Good morning…"

_Criss? _My mind tumbled over the distant voice as I stretched.

"You look so peaceful when you sleep."

…_Brandon…_

My eyes opened and I smiled half heartily finding that I was somewhat disappointed in my new reality.

"Hey, what time is it?" I asked as I ruffled the pillow underneath my head.

"It's almost 10am." Brandon replied while he dropped his hand back down to his knee and took a seat next to me on the pull out couch.

"Hmmm… 10am? Already?" I sat up and fidgeted with my hair.

"Yeah. I know, we must have been out like lights. I ordered some brunch for us. It should be up here in about an half hour or so. Do you have plans for today?" He questioned.

My eyes adjusted in on his tattooed forearm.

_Plans… besides sleeping my life away?_

"No, not really." My head shook.

Brandon smiled in return. "Awesome. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me the band?"

My mind stirred over the offer for a moment and finally my logic kicked back in. If media got wind that about me "chillin'" with Brandon Boyd and Incubus- _alone_… they would have a personal hay day.

"Actually, you know what… I should try to figure out where I stand with my mom and what my living arrangements are going to be and everything… you know? I would love to drop by afterwards though." I replied apologetically.

Brandon sighed a bit. "No problem. If you need anything give me a call. I'll be here."

I decided to take a Taxi back over to my moms. An expensive Taxi ride at that. I seriously needed my car back from Vegas. It was a stupid move on part ever shipping my car from Chicago out there. I had done that about a month ago thinking that it would be easier that way since Criss and I would have been officially married and I wouldn't ever need it in Chicago anymore. When I got to my moms she was sitting at the kitchen table sipping on a cup of tea. She was wearing a pair of tiny reading glasses and flipping through a stack of bills. I was surprised that she was actually home.

"Where have you been?" She questioned in a rather monotone voice.

"I've been out with a friend." I replied as I set down my purse on the counter.

My mom slammed down her stack of bills and drew in a deep breath. "OUt all night with a _friend_?"

My eyes rolled. "Mom seriously… I'm not in grade school."

"Whatever Sarah. I was just curious who you went out with?" She pried.

"Just a few old friends, you know. I was catching up and stuff. I don't really want to talk about it." The T.V. in the back around was giving me a head ache.

"Well, what do you want to talk about anymore?" She retorted.

_Great, here we go… mom's on massive bitch mode._

"I'm not in the mood for an argument mom. I'm going to look for elsewhere to stay anyway. Just give me sometime…"

Her eyes glanced up into mine and she nodded. "I'm not pushing you out the door, I just think that you know where you belong already."

"I'M NOT IN THE MOOD!" I declared loudly as I headed back towards the front door.

"Where are you going now?" She stood up from the table, the bills scattering some more.

"I've got some things to take care of. I'll back later." I slammed the door behind me.

First, I called my dad. He wasn't too thrilled about the whole marriage ordeal but what he was more upset about was what he heard Criss and I fighting about in the hallway. He had expressed to me later that afternoon that he was disappointed in me for staying with someone who was "so low as to cheat on me" and to "use me" and that if I had gone as far as to accept his proposal and even walk down the isle that I had a lot of "growing up to do" myself. He also said that if he ever saw Criss again he would "personally burry him in 6 feet deep into the ground" with a "nailed coffin".

_Little to his knowledge Criss had already been buried 6 feet in a coffin… twice. Although, I wasn't too sure about the nails? I bet my mom could answer that one. If not, I'm sure he might enjoy doing that next… _

I asked my dad if I could use a spare truck of his from his company and he agreed. He wasn't too happy to hear from me but he was more than happy to see to it that I had a way of transportation. He even offered me a job at his as his Company's accountant but I turned it down. I hate numbers and always have, I probably always will. Once I picked up his company truck I drove my way out to a fast food joint and grabbed a quick bite to eat.

I parked the white, 2003 ford pick-up in the parking lot of Burger King and began to munch down on my Whooper.

_Damn I was starving. _

My cell phone rang interrupting my gloriously delicious cheesy tots.

"Hello?" I swallowed.

"Just out of curiosity… what did you order?" Kevin questioned with a chuckle.

I nearly chocked on my coke.

"Excuse me…" I muttered peaking a glance inside of the rearview mirror.

"I was just wondering. You look like you are really scarfing it down."

My heart sped up as I searched the parking lot for his car.

No trace of any blue Chevy Cobalt's were in sight.

"Kevin, stop you're creeping me out. Where are you?" I tried to keep my voice positive.

"Wouldn't you like to know." And with that the line went dead.

_What the fuck? _

I stuffed the rest of my burger inside of the "Have it Your Way" brown bag and gunned the truck in the reverse.

I zoomed way out of the parking lot and when I passed the Speedway that had been facing Burger King I noticed Kevin's Cobalt idling in the turning lane. He turned out behind me and followed me onto the open express way.

_You're shitting me right…_

Nervously I speed dialed the first _person _that came to my mind.

"We are sorry but the number you are trying to reach is temporarily out of service, please try your call again later." An operator chimed into my ear.

I tossed my phone angrily back onto my passenger seat and sped up.

_Fucking out of service… who in the hell can his phone be out of service? Unless, he changed his number. Oh, nice one Criss! Change your damned number so I have no way of getting a hold of you. Fantastic move!_

Kevin tailed me up the expressway for about 15 miles until he finally turned off at a rest stop about two exits before mine. I couldn't believe him or understand why he done all that. One thing was for sure, I knew that I was spending another night in Brandon's hotel room. I got back to SAX at about 8pm. Brandon listened intently to my story about Kevin over a glass of Jack and coke at his wet bar.

"I can't believe that asshole. You let me know if he comes within a mile of you and I'll be there in 2 seconds, I swear to God." Brandon warned as he slammed his glass down on the bar top.

I nodded. "I will, I promise. I just don't understand his motive."

"I think he is just fucking with you because of last night. Maybe he feels embarrassed, like you messed with his ego or something so he wants to rile you up and scare you a bit. That's all. I really don't think he is going to harm you. But, I wouldn't chance it." He replied.

Picking at my nail polish I returned, "Thanks. You know… really. Thank you. You always listen to me and everything."

Brandon half smiled and reached out for my hand. "That's what friends do."

My hand squeezed tighter onto his. "They have _service_."

His eyebrow lifted. "Huh?"

"Never mind. It's just nothing. I just appreciate you that's all."

Brandon's eyes narrowed into mine and I felt my body draw in closer to his.

"The feeling is mutual. Don't take this the wrong way… but in a way I'm am glad that you called off the wedding."

"Why is that?" I asked quietly.

He hesitated for a moment and our knees bumped together when I turned on my bar stool to reach for my drink.

"Because, this way we actually have a chance to start over."

My Jack and coke nearly toppled over and I tried to remain composed.

"Start over…"

"Not… like that… just like, you know. Get know each other and be friends and be something on a different level than just that one night in Vegas. I feel like we respect each other now a lot more than we did. I don't think that we ever could before because of Criss." Brandon explained.

I cleared my throat and removed my hand from his. "Yeah, no I understand."

"You know, in a way… it's ironic. He cheated on Holly to be with you, and then you and me that night so long ago… and now, he's with Holly again and here we are tonight." Brandon chuckled uneasily as he downed the last bit of his drink.

I fidgeted around the bar stool and sighed. "Yeah, it is now that you say that… I didn't stop and think about it like that."

"Sometimes things happen for a reason." Brandon's eyes trailed off to my feet and I took that as an awkward cue to change the subject.

_Things really were ironic but they certainly weren't satisfactory. _


	18. Chapter 17

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 17**

The days passed by so slow. I could hardly keep track of what date it was anymore. My mind felt like it had been put in a time warp. I think it was Friday again but I wasn't too sure. I was still staying at the SAX hotel with Brandon and he and I were getting along great. Maybe _too _great to be considered "just friends" by an outsiders perspective.

"I'm leaving tomorrow." Brandon sighed as he forked over the steamed broccoli on his plate.

"Tomorrow!" I moaned.

"Yeah, I have an early drive to Michigan in the morning." He replied.

My eyes glanced around the quaint restaurant. We were sitting at a corner booth in a small intimate diner about 4 blocks from the hotel. The place was barren besides our table and three others. Our waitress was a bitch, but the food was out of this world.

"Hmmm, well… do you want me to head back to my moms tonight?" I offered with a scowl.

He shook his head causing his shaggy brown hair to softy tousle away from his cheekbone. "No, it's fine. You can stay another night. Don't be silly. You can check out of the hotel in the morning when you leave, I'll let the front know."

I nodded happily. "Aw, thank you."

Brandon took another bite of his steak and dropped his fork. "Hey, I'll be right back. My phone's vibrating."

He reached into his pocket and flipped open his cell phone.

"Sure, thing." I motioned that it was alright.

Once he had left the table and made his way towards the restaurants hallway I focused my eyes in on a plasma screen T.V. above the bar area.

A commercial came on that I faintly recognized.

5 wooden coffins appeared with the signature Criss Angel logo on them and blew up into flames in front of a rundown warehouse.

My eyebrow raised as the subtitle read: 5 SEASONS, 5 LIVES, 5 EPISODES OF CRISS ANGEL… STARTING THIS JULY ON A&E.

_July? He already has commercials out for this season… It was only May! _

I drew in a breath as memories of filming season 5 with him came flooding back to haunt me.

"Sorry about that. It was my new tour manger. He wanted to make sure that everything is all ready for tomorrow morning." Brandon apologized as he made his way back to the table.

His voice snapped me quickly back the real word.

"Yeah, no… that's okay." I shook my head trying to get Criss's face out my mind.

"Are you ready to go?" Brandon asked.

~*~

We headed back to the hotel and before I knew it I found myself obsessively checking Criss's Twittter account on Brandon's laptop while he was in the shower.

_**Still feeling under the weather today… check back soon for more updates. XoCa**_

I exited out of the browser and sighed as I walked back over to the couch. _Maybe if I just somehow got a hold of him…_

I decided to call Sully. Maybe he could help me. _What was I going to say? Why was I even calling? What was my issue? Why did I HAVE to talk to Criss anyway? Why did I have to see that fucking commercial on A&E!_

Sully's phone went straight to his voicemail and I hung up. I knew he had either had no service or pressed his instant ignore button the moment he saw my name on the caller I.D.

_That's was it, I was calling the Luxor._

"Hello, this is the Luxor in Las Vegas, Samantha speaking, how may I help you today?" A woman answered in a upbeat voice.

"Hey, Samantha… this is Sarah… I was interested in purchasing Criss Angel Believe tickets?" I stuttered.

"Oh, sure! Let me direct you the box office. Just one moment." The phone clicked and then played some jazz music for about 30 seconds before a man picked up.

"Hello, box office?" He answered.

"Hey, I need to speak with Cristo Albert, it's really important." I demanded.

"Cristo Albert… do you know his extension number ma'am?" The man questioned curiously.

I bit my lip. "I do believe that it is 315."

"Hold on just one moment."

More jazz music flooded my ear drums.

"Cristo speaking?" Cristo answered in a chipper voice.

My heart leap into my throat and I nearly jumped off of the couch. "Cristo! It's Sarah… you know, 13! I miss you so much!"

He chuckled girlishly. "Sarah! Where are you girl? We are going nut-so with out you! My God, you should Criss's hair… it's a wreck…"

My eyes rolled. "Yeah… well… that's why I am calling. Is he in the theater tonight?"

"He's on right now… you should know that. Second show is just about ready to start." He replied.

I heard who sounded like Amanda in the back around complaining about a dress being too big.

"Do me a HUGE favor… go find him for me." I begged.

"What?! He's got like literally 3 minutes before he goes on stage." Cristo huffed.

"Just find him, please. I REALLY need to talk to him." I insisted.

"Only because I love you! He is soooo going to fire my ass after this one!" I heard him run across the hall and bang on his dressing room door.

"Criss! Phone!"

"_Phone? What the hell Cristo? Tell whoever I'll call them back, I gotta go on…" _I heard Criss groan and a door slam shut in a hurry.

"Just answer it! It's an emergency…" Cristo yelled.

I smiled to myself with a laugh at how persistent Cristo was and imagined him shoving the phone in his face.

"_This had better be REALLY dyer or something." _

Criss sighed. "Hello?"

My voice got caught in my throat and I suddenly choked up.

_Why was I calling? Had I even figured that out yet? What was I going to say?_

"Hey…" I nearly whispered into the receiver.

"Listen, do yourself a huge favor and don't waste your time or mine." Criss retorted sharply.

"But I-" I went to reply but realized he had already hung up.

"I told you… he isn't worth it…" Brandon muttered from behind the couch.

I jumped and grabbed at my heart.

"My God, you scarred me!"

"Sorry. I just came out here to tell you that I was out of the bathroom and it's free." He laughed lightly.

I stood up, my knees still shaking from the stressful phone call.

"Right, um… thank you." My eyes evaluated Brandon's small dress code and I nearly gasped.

"You know, there are other options than just him…" He dropped the towel from around his waist and began to dry his hair.

I cleared my throat. "Brandon… I… ugh…"

He took a few steps closer to me and I shut my eyes to try to avoid the awkward memories of his naked body.

"I love you Sarah." He whispered as I felt his warm hand cup my cheek.

It took me a moment to respond but when I went to move my frozen lips all I found were his in return.

**~*THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF THE REVIEWS!!! THEY MEAN SO MUCH TO ME!!! I KNOW SARAH IS BEING A BIOTCH RIGHT NOW, HAHA!!! :p WE WILL SEE WHAT HAPPENS... LOL! THANKS AGAIN FOR READING!*~**

**Always,**

**Deppdependant**


	19. Chapter 18

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to lucky 13**

**Chap. 17**

****This chap does have some Believe spoliers... it's not much though.****

My eyes opened and I arched my back a bit to wiggle my way out of Brandon's embrace.

"I… I really, don't know what to say…" I stuttered once his lips separated themselves from mine.

"Sarah, please just move on. Criss is really holding you from what you need in life." His hand massaged down the small of my back and I found myself grinding my teeth.

"Brandon, believe me when I say this; I think that you are great guy and that you have all the qualities that a woman could want in a man, but I'm just not the woman for you."

The room grew quiet and I allowed my head to burry into his shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to lead you on."

It took him a moment to reply but he responded by softly running a hand through my hair. "You haven't. I am just being honest. I do love you. I think I always will. If you don't want to be with me… I understand… I just think that you are making a mistake by further harming yourself with the illusions you're drumming up in your head of a happy ending with Criss."

I lifted my head up and leveled his eyes.

"Sometimes, illusions can become reality if you just _believe_."

Brandon shifted his weight and smirked sarcastically. "Okay, sure. Go on telling yourself that load."

"I have to go Brandon. Thank you for everything. I do love you… if that is any constellation. I just don't think it's the same love you had in mind." I planted a firm kiss on his cheek and went to head for the door but he grabbed onto my arm.

"Wait, where are you going?" He asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"Back to my unrealistic reality." I replied.

~*~

**Tuesday**

**June, 4rd**

_Come on… pick up the damned phone already… this is outrageous… _

I sat outside of the Las Vegas airport with a single suitcase and my purse. It was hotter than hell. It had to be over 95 degrees and my shorts were already sticking to the back of my legs. I couldn't imagine how bad my hair looked in the wind.

"Hello?" Elaine answered sounding out of breath.

"Hey… it's me…" I sighed as I lit up a cigarette.

"Oh, yeah. Hi, can I help you with something?" Her voice dropped about two octaves and I could tell she still wasn't happy to hear from me.

"Yeah, are you still siding with Criss at the moment or are you neutral?" I inhaled a deep drag as I watched a couple get inside of a white limo.

"I'm not taking sides in this anymore. I would rather stay out of all this mess until everything blows over. I have work commitments with Criss now Sarah, you know that." She sighed roughly.

I nearly laughed. _So work was more important than years and years of friendship?_

"I know. I'm not trying to jeopardize that by any means. I just wanted to check in…"

_I was REALLY calling to see if she could pick me up. But now THAT was out of the question. _

"I'm good, I have to let you go though… I have to get back to work… call me later?" She questioned.

"Sure, later." I hung up as I flagged down a taxi.

The moment my flip flop hit the floor of the Luxor's entrance I wanted throw up. Literally, my stomach did a complete 180 churn and I felt my hands become clammy. A humungous promotional Mindfreak banner was in the hallway for season 5 and that alone was making me shit my pants. Trying to overcome my mental agony I strode up the check in area, I calmly collected my room key.

_Of course, that also bared another fucking Criss Angel advertisement for Believe. That was just what I needed… something else with his damned mark on it. _

I was staying in the pyramid suites which were the cheapest. I really couldn't afford much else since I was jobless and needed to save my money. The room I got was smaller. It had a single full size bed and a shower and not much else besides a T.V. but that was really all I needed. I wasn't going to be staying long in _that _room anyway. I was sure of it. That night was going to change everything… he was going to accept my apology. He was going to hear me out. We were both going to put our differences aside for the better and work through our issues. We weren't over… I was certain. At least that's what I thought.

I had purchased a front row and dead center seat to Believe for the last showing that night at 9:30pm. Little did I know that before ordering my ticket online that it would cost me a whopping $180. That was insane! One hundred and eighty dollars to see a show that I had watched a zillion times and could probably do at least 10 of the tricks myself! Whatever… it was worth it when I was trying to get myself noticed and had no other way of doing so. I dressed to kill. I wore a baby blue Sinful burnout and a jean skirt with a pair of casual heels. My hair looked amazing since Lesley had re-highlighted it back home and given me the cutest stacked, angled bob I had ever seen but the best pair of my outfit was my necklace. I took my seat in the middle of the row and glanced around nervously at the stage. After the comedic act came out and warmed up the crowd the curtains closed and I felt myself get sick again with anticipation.

"Oh my God… Sarah?" I felt someone tap my shoulder.

I jumped a bit and turned to my right. "Costa?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" His eyes burned into mine as he sat down next to me in the only empty chair in the row.

_I should have known… his family always sits up front when they visit. Why didn't I get the 3rd__ row or something more realistic?_

"I'm just chillin." I blurted stupidly as I glanced back to the stage.

"I see… yeah… 'Chillin'." He laughed.

Criss stepped out and greeted the crowd after the opening and my heart began to pound as Costa eyed my every move.

"Why are you really here?" He questioned as we both watched Criss perform a mock Telsa routine with a bake potato.

"I-I wanted to apologize. I can't handle life without him anymore…" The stage light up and pyrotechnics went off as Criss staged his own death.

"I don't think that he'll hear you out Sarah. He hasn't said one word about you to any of us since the wedding besides that he doesn't want to discuss it or hear from you ever again." Costa sighed.

I frowned as I nervously scratched at my knee. "Costa, I really need to speak with him alone, just for like 5 minutes. I don't care how much he hates me right now, that's all I need. You believe me when I say that I love him, right? You know that I never meant to hurt him? I just wanted to make things better for us… I don't know. I'm so confused. I don't care anymore about Holly… I don't care anymore about his career or whatever… I just can't survive without him in life. Maybe I'm pathetic or something and need to move on or what have you, but I can't."

He nodded slowly and rested his hand on top of mine. "I believe you. I just don't think _he _does."

"Then I will make him." I muttered as I watched Criss being wheeled off stage on a stretcher.

A video clip rolled up as "paramedics" attended to Criss and I allowed my mind to wonder.

"Here, take this…" Costa handed me a room key.

"What?" I gasped.

"It's for his dressing room. Take it, he'll be in there after the show, you know your way to the back from here. Go." He whispered.

"Thank you. I love you so much!" I kissed his cheek quickly before Criss had the chance to reappear on stage.

Not much had changed since I had been gone. His dressing room looked like it was in shambles though. He had paper work strewn across the coffee table and odd pictures of butterflies tacked up on the wall. I was guessing that was for another illusion he was working on or something. I took a seat on the couch and found myself flipping through a car magazine of some sort for about 20 minutes. When I got bored with that I decided to clean his room a bit. I could hear dancers and Elaine chatting and racing around in the back. The costume designer was complaining about a ripped ear on Tony's bunny's head that needed to be replaced and Cristo was singing an old Nsync song as he did someone's hair. _Man, he was so gay… I loved it._

At about 11:35pm I heard the audience clap and cheer from his dressing room and I then about a 15 minutes later I heard the everything start to calm down again. _Everything besides the sound of my own heart._

"That was so funny, I can't believe that she would do that. Get the hell out of here man, did you see that poster, it was like the size of your hummer." I heard Costa's voice approaching the door and I froze next to the end table.

"I thought that was so sweet." Criss replied as the door opened.

Costa hesitated a bit by the doorway and shot me a thumps up.

I bit my lip in return and noticed that Criss was too busy texting on his cellphone to notice me yet.

"Hey, I'm gonna go head to my room. I'll see you later. Call me tonight if you need anything." Costa told Criss as he patted his back.

"Alright, night." Criss muttered as flipped his phone shut and closed the door.

His eyes slowly moved my way as he walked towards his couch.

"Holy shit! You're kidding me…" He remarked as he jumped back from my figure.

I rolled my eyes at his slight of hand comment. "No, actually… I'm not."

Criss groaned a bit and folded his arms against his chest. "You have 30 seconds before I call security. I am NOT fucking around."

My eyes grew angry. "Oh, my God. Grow up! I do have to someday get all my things… what will you do then, arrest me?"

Criss didn't seem to take my comment well and flung the door back open. "I'll mail it all to you. That simple. Now please, just leave…"

"You're going to mail me my car?" I laughed. "Nice… sounds like an awesome idea. Wrap that all up in one giant UPS box."

Criss pulled out his cell phone and speed dialed someone. "I'm not kidding." He warned.

"Woah, wait… are you seriously calling security on me?" I blinked.

"Yeah, I gave you 30 seconds." He replied sharply as he signaled towards the door again.

I shrugged. "Fine, let them come. I'm NOT leaving. I haven't done anything to hurt you, what are they going to do?"

Criss abruptly hung up the phone and drew in so close to me that I could see sweat still dripping off of his forehead from the show. "Haven't done anything to hurt me… you really are clueless aren't you, 13?" He mocked as he grabbed hold of the diamond "13" necklace he had given me so long ago.

My eyes evaluated his for a moment and I went to speak but before I could he tugged so hard on the "13" medallion that the clasp broke from around my neck.

"I no longer want you to be a part of my life." He muttered emotionlessly.

**Thanks again for reading! Please Review as always! I was wondering who all had** .com **accounts... if you are signed up and have a LOYAL page, feel free to add me on the site. My SN is: forbidenteardrops. AND also, I added a poll to my profile for Queen of Hearts. I have noticed that a lot of people have either been taking Criss's side in the "wedding break off" or Sarah's so I thought it would be interesting to see who would win. HAHA! So go vote!!! lol! Here is the poll link:** .net/u/1034134/#

**3 Always,**

**Deppdepent**


	20. Chapter 19

**Queen of Hearts **

**Sequel to lucky 13**

**Chap. 19**

Needless to say, it didn't take me too long to figure out that he had in fact called security on me. I took the warning and left by own free will. I wasn't too sure if he wanted me to be out of the hotel or if he just wanted me to leave his presence so I figured that it would still be alright if I spent the night in my suite. Elaine saw me heading out of theater and shot me a disappointed glance. Maybe she thought that I was becoming desperate or maybe she already knew that Criss wanted nothing to do with me… I wasn't too sure but I was upset with how she was treating me.

When I got back to my room I changed into my night clothes and decided to call it a night. Things definitely hadn't turned out the way I had intended at all. How was I going to get him to listen to me? What could I do? Where could I corner him without him having the luxury of his burly security guards? What was I going to say or do to win him back?

My mind raced over a million not so brilliant ideas as I tossed and turned in the unfamiliar bed until I finally drifted asleep at about 3am. My eyelids fluttered back and fourth as I found myself fighting in and out of a coherent state and a well-known nightmare.

_Rose petals lined the bottom of my wedding dress and gasoline was slowly leaking onto Criss's shoes. _

"_Don't do it!" I yelled to an unknown figure behind me. "Don't strike the match!"_

_The smell of sulfur filled the room faster than I could push Criss down onto ground and three gasoline barrels exploded in the back of the cathedral. _

"_I'm sorry, but your time has run out…" I heard the dark figure mutter as he lit another match._

I woke up screaming into my pillow with my arms outstretched on the mattress as if I were making a snow angel. The clock read: 10am.

_10am…. _

Criss was probably at the gym or still asleep. I had to start making a "master plan" and fast.

~*~

_If there was one place in the whole entire Luxor… where would Criss Angel be? _That was the question that was constantly running inside of my head (and probably many others who were vacationing there). I had devised what I thought was a great plan. The only problem was if it would work or not. At about 6:30pm I called the Theater and had Cristro meet me down. He allowed me to use the elevator so that I could be taken directly onto Criss's floor. When I got up on to Criss's floor I rushed my way through the Emergency Exit door and up the flights of the stairs. Once I had made my way to the SEVER DROP OFF POINT sign I drew in a deep sigh and opened the door. I had previously gone shopping all day and bought over 500 tea light candles, a bottle of champagne, and I brought a sheet from my hotel room. I set everything up accordingly so that the sheet was sprawled out in the middle of the concrete floor looking out towards the Luxor's drop off. The tea light candles were lined throughout the room and I think that my thumb got a blister from lighting all 500. I set the champagne and the two glasses in the middle of the sheet and sat down.

I knew he would come. He had to, it was going on a quarter to midnight. _What was taking Costa so long? _He promised me that he would convince Criss to come up here…

I gazed out at the city and drew in a deep breath as I adjusted my red dress.

Midnight ticked by and I grew anxious. About 100 of the tea lights had already dimmed out and I was starting to eye the bottle of champagne as a pathetic back up plan. Right as I was about to stand up and start to pack everything up the door cracked open.

"Oh my God…" I heard Criss muttered quietly.

"That's my cue to head out." Costa turned around and winked at me.

Criss looked at Costa and tossed his arms up. "I'm gonna talk to you later about all this!"

"Talk to me all you want!" Costa returned with a chuckled as I heard him shuffling down the stairs.

I stood up and half smiled nervously. "Please, don't leave… just hear me out?"

Criss hesitated by the door for a moment and then nodded. "Alright, since you went through all this I'll stay for 5 minutes."

I grinned. "5 minutes is better than 30 seconds, right?"

He walked up towards the blanket and eyed the candles. "Interesting choice of location…"

"Criss, I want to start completely over. New slate. That was wrong of me to leave you standing there like that. I'm so sorry. Just please understand that I only did it because I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to accept all the things that were being shoved onto our table at that moment in time. I was confused. Hell, honestly… I still am. But I can't live without you in my life." My eyes welled up with tears.

He released a breath and tapped his foot on the floor. "Okay… well, thank you for the apology."

"Are you serious… what more do I have do say or do?" I tossed my arms out.

Criss ran a hand through his hair. "You don't have to say or do anything. I just need time to think this all over, you know? It's not going to be that easy."

My lips quivered with emotion as I replied, "I love you, I miss you. Just, just don't leave me…"

He took a step closer to me and grabbed my hand. "If I didn't love you, this wouldn't be so difficult… but sometimes, love isn't rational. Sometimes love can get in the way of what is truly important in life."

"What is that supposed to mean?" My eyes narrowed into his.

"Loyalty to the things you are committed to the most and with you, I don't see you being loyal to me at all." He replied.

"I so am loyal to you, I just flew miles to be here!" I retorted.

"Flying miles to be _here _and leaving my heart at the alter are two different things." He snapped.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry, okay… but it's not like you were Mr. Perfect either. Why do you think I left you there!"

He sighed. "For some total bullshit that I didn't do! If you trusted me than we wouldn't be here!"

"If I trusted you… okay, and what about you being sooo "loyal" to your career… obviously that is more important than loving me, you just said so yourself!" I pointed out.

He shook his head. "THIS is the reason why I don't want you in my life anymore… we are ALWAYS at each other throats!"

I laughed sarcastically. "Yeah, or ripping things off of my throat."

"Oh, whatever!" Criss headed his way back towards the door but I followed him.

"So… this is it, then?" I asked seriously.

"I don't know…" Criss bit his bottom lip.

"I am willing to make this work, again. Can you just at least sit down for a few minutes and try to have a civil conversation with me?" I offered.

He seemed to ponder for a moment. "Alright… I will, but there are no stings attached."

"Fine." I lead him back over the blanket and we both sat down.

Criss did the honors of pouring the first glass of champagne.

"Well, I thought I would lighten things up bit…" I began as I reached into my purse and pulled out a deck of cards.

Criss narrowed his eyebrows seeming shocked as I set them between us.

"To be 100% honest with you all I know how to play is war and solitaire." I tried to joke under the tension.

He shot me a curious glance and replied, "Is that why you wanted to bring me here, to learn how to play poker or something?"

"No, I wanted to meet you here to prove to you that I am still interested in you and that I still care and love you and that I want to be with you. So, maybe if you feel up to it… you can teach me how to swallow a Jack of Diamonds and then pull it out of my eye socket or something Mindfreakish?" I replied as I pushed the deck closer his way.

Criss smiled. "You really have changed. Let's start with the Four Aces, it's really easy and you'll get a kick out of it… I think it's one of the first card tricks I learned."

I watched him shuffle the deck and noticed that his finger nails were painted black again.

"Criss," I reached out and touched his hand.

"Huh?" The cards paused in their shuffle.

"Really, I missed you." I got onto my knees and gently kissed his cheek.

I caught his eyes leveling with my chest as I slowly pulled away.

He cleared his throat and replied, "Yeah, so… ugh, you take the deck and find all four aces, like this."

_To be honest, I really wasn't paying attention to the trick at all. _

"And then you tell the person to deal out the deck how ever they want after the four aces are already down on the table, like so…" He finished up the card trick and I nodded.

"Wow, that's really cool, so the 4 aces are still there on top… neat." I smiled.

"Yeah, so that's basically it." He replied as he handed the deck back over to me.

"So, what about poker?" I laughed.

"You need more players for that." He chuckled. "Where are you staying?"

"I'm here in the pyramids." I replied as I laid down.

Criss fidgeted with his cell phone for a moment until he finally tossed it aside.

"Oh, okay. When are leaving?" He asked nonchalantly.

Twiddling my thumbs against my stomach I replied, "Until I run out of money."

Criss raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah, don't you get it? I'm not leaving until I have you back." I stated boldly.

He sighed and laid down next me. "Want to know a secret Sarah?"

"What's that?" I questioned.

"I don't think you'll run out of money." He whispered as he rolled onto his side and grabbed my hand.

**Thanks again for the comments. The Poll is currently tied lol! And PS. last time I was asking everyone who had a www crissangel com account haha my SN is forbidenteardrops if you do, sorry the links were broken and did not show. **

** 3 Always**

**Deppendant**


	21. Chapter 20

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 20**

I smiled as I curled up against Criss's chest. The remaining tea light candles were starting to dim out and their small flames were only producing about half of the light they once had when I had first ignited them. By only an estimate I was guessing that there were about 150 that were still lit sporadically around the room. Criss's hand ran itself through the back of my hair and I drew in a small relaxed breath.

"You know something…" I began as I traced the outline of an embroidered skull on his grey T-shirt. "I think that this is the most time we have spent alone together in, well, since I can remember."

Criss chuckled a bit. "Yeah, kind of sad that it is underneath these conditions though."

"Aren't you busy tonight with some sort of plans or something?" I questioned curiously.

His hand removed itself from my hair and felt his chest puff out on my cheek.

"No, actually I don't. I was going to go back to my suite and call it night before Costa told me that Hammie got out and took off up here… but somehow I knew that sounded kind of suspicious." He replied.

_Why would Hammie climb that many sets of stairs… I knew even a cat was smart even to avoid those. Man, Costa seriously needed to work on lying. _

I laughed. "That is funny, I can't believe he used that one as decoy."

Criss nodded. "Yeah. It was pretty strange."

"By the way, how is Holly?" I questioned with a bad taste in my mouth.

The room seemed to tense up again and I wished I hadn't mentioned her name.

"She's fine. She is pregnant, I made her take a test in front of me. I honestly didn't believe it. She actually went to the doctor and found out that she is about 2 months along now." Criss replied as he moved around a bit.

I rolled onto my back again and folded my arms. "Oh, I see."

There was a long pause before he added, "She's back in California right now. I haven't spoken to her in about 3 days."

My eyes focused on the peaked ceiling as I concentrated on being hopeful in the respects that the baby _still _might not be his. I still had 7 months to find out the truth as to wither or not he really cheated on me so there really was no point in blaming him at that moment in time if I had no real proof. Who's to say that Holly hadn't slept around with anyone else in that same time frame?

My cell phone rang cutting through the silence.

"Hold on a second." I muttered as I sat up and searched through my purse.

_Private number? Who would call me private at nearly 1am?_

"Hello?" I answered cautiously.

"Why did you leave without saying goodbye?!" Kevin yelled angrily.

My eyes bugged the moment I realized it was him.

"What?! Don't EVER call me again!" I shot back.

Criss gave me a serious look and I held up a finger at him.

"You will regret leaving me… I promise you that much." Kevin replied and then quickly up.

I tossed my phone back into my purse and rubbed my forehead muttering the words, "what the fuck".

"Who was that?" Criss asked concerned as drew in closer to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"It's a long story… don't worry about it." I replied through a sigh.

"No, tell me?" He nearly demanded.

"It was Kevin, he's been somewhat stalking me… I don't know. It's weird." I glanced at him crookedly.

"Whoa, wait a second, your ex Kevin? As in the guy I told you to stay away from?" He asked crossly.

"Yeah, him. I mean, we hung out after everything that happened between you and I. But that was only to catch up. He called me a few days later and I went over to his place. Everything was fine up until him telling me all this crazy shit about how he 'missed me' and crap. So I ran out and then Bra-" I stopped in sentence once I caught myself saying Brandon's name. "Then I ugh, was at Burger king a couple days after and he called me and was stalking me from the gas station across the way and when I pulled out of the parking lot he started practically running me off of the highway. It was insane!"

Criss shot me a confused glance. "Why do I feel like that wasn't the whole story?"

_Why did he have to be trained in reading people's emotions? _

"I don't know." I shrugged. "I just can't believe he is still calling me… he needs to give it up."

"I have a strange feeling he isn't the only one?" Criss questioned more than he stated.

I bit my lip. "Do you know something that I should?"

"No, I just think that you are hiding something from me that is already obvious." He sighed.

"So what. I saw Brandon! So there!" I blurted as I tossed up my hands in defeat.

Criss shook his head. "To be honest, I already knew that you and Brandon were hanging out again… Elaine told me."

"What?!" I exclaimed feeling as if I had been betrayed.

"Yeah, she told me the night after you two met up on my Bachelor's party. I was just waiting for you to come clean, I thought that MAYBE you would when I told you that I had 'seen' him around Michigan Ave but you never did." He replied sounding disappointed.

My knuckles cracked loudly against my calf. "I don't know what to say to that other than that there is nothing between Brandon and I besides friendship."

Criss rolled his eyes. "I think he would give up anything to get in your pants again and same with this fucking Kevin son of bitch. You need to stop toying around with the two of them before you get hurt. You know, I wasn't around to protect you, who in the hell knows what could have happened to you! Do you honestly think that they want to commit to you because chances are if they are both stalking you they are just looking for a piece of ass and seriously need to be fucking beat down."

I raised an eyebrow at his blunt response and slowly nodded. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm just too nice of a person. I don't like hard feelings between me and past relationships-"

"Well, most of the time guys don't understand that there is a line in the sand between friends and friends with benefits or a serious relationship. They all they just want to stick their shit up in anything that has two legs." Criss replied. "I'm just telling you how it is."

I giggled a bit. "Okay, I get it. I won't talk to anyone but you, unless they have a vagina."

He sighed roughly. "I'm not saying that AT ALL. I'm just saying that this pertains to these guys… now, if I EVER see this Kevin fuck-off I will personally take him by the-"

I placed a finger over his lips before he could finish his graphic sentence.

"I understand, you don't need to paint me a mental picture, babe."

He perked his lips out and replied, "As for Brandon, you know… for some reason I trust you. I think you've got that under control."

"I do." I smiled reassuringly.

"Not that I wouldn't mind knocking him out again or anything…" Criss laughed evilly.

I smirked and rolled my eyes.

He checked his watch and let himself slip out a long yawn.

"Damn, its almost 2am already." He stated.

"We've been here for 2 hours already?" I glanced around noticing that the 150 candles had now dwindled down to about 35.

"Yeah, about." His eyes focused down on my feet and I felt a cooler breeze come in from the drop off.

"You look amazing tonight." He nearly whispered as his gaze moved back into mine.

"Thank you. Your hair needs a little help but other than that you look sexy of course." I joked as I pushed a long strand of dark hair out of his eyes.

He smirked and pulled me back down onto the sheet in a shift motion. I landed underneath him and giggled.

"If you don't take off this tormenting dress, I think I'm going to go insane." Criss playfully whispered into my ear.

I smiled to myself.

"I'm not taking anything off until we are back together." I stated.

Criss gazed down at me and replied, "I'm not an asshole who plays friends with benefits… didn't I just give you that lecture like 5 minutes ago?"

"Just shut up and kiss me!" I laughed.

His lips came crashing down onto mine and it took all I had not ravage him. I couldn't remember the last time Criss and made love to each other. It had been so long I had forgotten just what I had been missing and I came to the conclusion that I never wanted to wait long enough to forget that again.

My hands ran down his naked back in the scarce candle light as he gently kissed along the inside of my neck. My mind lulled at his sensual touch and my body grew hot with anticipation as he thrust harder inside of me.

_Then reality hit me like a ton of bricks._

"Criss," I moaned as the palms of my hands rested against his toned chest.

He slowed a bit and bent in closer to me. "What's wrong baby?"

"I-I haven't been taking my pill…" I breathed heavily.

His eyes seemed to judge mine for a moment. "What do you want me to do?"

_I REALLY wanted him to continue, I REALLY wanted him make love to me all night long and REALLY wanted to feel him cum inside of me… but that was only all great in the 'magical land' where sex ed. Class was fictional and didn't come out with the conclusion of babies._

I sighed and slammed my head against the floor.

"Just stop… I guess."

Criss groaned as he climbed off of me and shot me an awkward face.

"I'm sorry." I apologized as I planted a kiss on his shoulder.

He laid there seeming complacent for a moment and I wondered how he could be so satisfied at a time like that.

"You know what, no…" He finally broke the silence and rolled back on top of me.

"What?" I nearly gasped.

"No, I don't care… and neither should you. We plan on spending the rest of our lives together, right?" He questioned seriously.

I nodded. "Yes."

"Then, I don't care. I want you to have my children wither it be now or later so why wait any longer? If it happens, it happens." He kissed me passionately.

I smiled widely and wrapped my arms across his neck. "Criss, you have no idea how much that commitment from you just turned me on."


	22. Chapter 21

****

Queen of Hearts

Sequel to Lucky 13

Chap. 21

**4:30 AM**

It took a moment for my eyes to dilate and adjust in the darkness of Criss's bedroom but once they did I noticed a very strange movement between the half open bathroom door and the wall. I squinted and rubbed the remaining sleep from my eyelids attempting to investigate further.

"Hammie…" I whispered trying not to disturb Criss's slumber.

Hammie meowed from the bottom of the bed and my heart jumped up into my throat.

__

If the shadow wasn't Hammie's whose was it?

Fucking nightmares… maybe I was just tripping out.

Too bad I had to urinate so bad that the bathroom was my next destination.

Tossing the covers back with a sigh I slinked my way out of bed and tip-toed cautiously towards the bathroom door

I propped it open and flicked on the light. The exhaust fan nearly gave me a heart attack and I rolled my eyes at myself and how silly I was acting.

"Ok, seriously Sarah…" I muttered as I headed my way to the toilet with a chuckle.

My eyes drifted lazily towards the shower and I nearly screamed when I discovered a pile of what appeared to papers on fire on the shower floor.

"What the hell, oh my God!" I pulled up my underwear in a rush.

I ran to the walk in shower and tore the glass door open to discover that the "papers" were in fact photographs of me… that was when I decided to scream, "CRISS! WAKE UP!"

By the time Criss had made his way into bathroom I had already cut on faucet to put out the fire. The stack of soggy and disintegrated pictures meshed together in the center of the shower floor as I stood there circling the room trying to be sure that "shadow figure" was still gone.

"What's going on? Are you alright?" Criss questioned seriously with what would have been most hilarious bed head under any other circumstance.

"The, the shower, there's a fire…" I pointed.

Criss narrowed his eyes and peaked inside. "What the hell…"

"I have no idea, I just went to pee and this shit was on fire. There were pictures of me." I choked out.

He cleared his throat as he glanced around the room. "There wasn't anyone in here?"

"No, not that I know of… I got kinda of freaked out because I thought I saw a shadow by the door before I came inside but I haven't seen anyone." I rambled.

Criss cut off the faucet and grabbed my arm. "Come on, put on a pair of pants and I'm reporting this."

Reporting a break in that involved burning pictures inside of the shower wasn't really usually that serious but I guess it was extremely serious considering the fact that the Luxor was not allowed to give the location of Criss Angel's suite. He threw a fit at the front desk, a GIANT fit at his production and management office and grew even more outraged when he found out that Tiny and his other body guards had "conveniently" slipped out for a cup of coffee at around 3am.

"Then, I suggest that you check the security cameras on my floor from all of yesterday and this morning." Criss demanded the lobby.

"I will do that Mr. Angel." The man replied seeming annoyed at his persistence.

"No, you know what on the other hand… send them directly to my production office and THEY will watch the tapes. Understood?" Criss raised an eyebrow him.

He nodded slowly. "I'll send them over this afternoon."

Once the tapes had arrived Criss and I sat down together and tediously drudged through them._Elevator opens… Elevator closes… Criss walks out, he walks in…_

_I swear, if I had watch that scene one more time!_

"Babe, this is so monotonous, just fast forward." I yawned as I stretched out on the production office's couch.

"Fine… I'll fast forward to 3am." He pressed a button on the old style VCR and I sat up a bit trying to refocus my attention to the screen.

A few minutes passed and my eyes narrowed. "Wait, pause it. Who is that?"

"I have no idea…" Criss froze the frame.

"Oh my God, you've got to be shitting me." I nearly fell off of the side of couch.

"What? Who is it?" Criss questioned as he glanced over my way.

I looked back at the screen to the short spiky haired man dressed in black who was standing next to Criss's suite door.

"Press play, just press play." I sighed.

"Umm.. Alright…" Criss shrugged and then tape grew fuzzy.

"What! This is shit!" I exclaimed.

"I have another tape, hold on." Criss reached across the desk anxiously as I ejected the other tape.

"Come on, I hate VHS, you'd think the Luxor could invest in higher quality shit." I joked.

"Only for the casinos." Criss cracked as he hit play on the next tape.

"Why does this say 3:30am? The last tape stopped at 3:27am…" I groaned.

He hit rewind and the tape went back to 3:30am again. "I don't know, maybe it takes the camera a few seconds to load it or something…"

"Look, he's gone." I pointed to the screen.

"Who was that?" Criss asked again.

"Who do you think?" My head rested into the palms of my hands.

"I will kill him. So help me God, I will kill that son of bitch." Criss slammed the remote control back onto the desk.

It was going on midnight and we still had no leads other than the back of what I knew was Kevin's head on the video tape but that didn't prove anything it didn't even show him entering inside of Criss's door. I tried all day to con my cell phone company into telling me where he called me Private number from but of course they just wanted me to Upgrade my account. Criss got back from the show at around 12:30am and headed straight into shower, which I had also spent all day cleaning.

"Thanks for everything today." I kissed his cheek as he walked out of the bathroom.

"Don't worry about it." He replied as he threw on a white wife beater.

"I feel awful about all this." I sighed as I followed him into bed.

"Shit happens, I guess. Maybe an 'I told you so' is in order though." He laughed lightly.

"Yeah, you were right." I nodded as I watched him search through his nightstand for something. After a moment he shut the wooden drawer still empty handed and asked, "Hey, you haven't seen my magic journal around have you?"

"Nah, I haven't seen that in ages." I shrugged.

"Hmmm… weird, I've been looking for it all day. I came up with this really cool idea last night when we were playing cards actually." He smiled playfully.

"Somehow I don't think it was when were playing cards?" I punched his shoulder with a snort.

"Damn, you read right through me. It was good though." His mind seemed to trail off as he stared down at his own knee.

"What was good, your new illusion idea or me, because if you are thinking about illusions while you're doing me then maybe something is wrong?" I leveled my hands out.

Criss blinked. "Nah, no it's not that at all… that was great. You are always amazing. Just something you did made me think about another thing that lead to another and then so on… and so I really want to sketch it out," He rattled as he lifted up the blankets and looked for his book again. "It's like that damned book grew legs… I swear!"

I laughed. "Sometimes I think your mind grows legs."

Criss headed off to the bathroom to continue his frantic search while I laid down in attempts to call in a night.


	23. Chapter 22

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 22**

It was the beginning of July and life seemed like it was finally starting to piece itself back together again. My family was beginning to speak to me like I was actually an adult with some remote sense of logic, Criss hired me back at Believe and Elaine and I were even on speaking terms. Brandon hadn't bothered with me and there hadn't been any recent Kevin sightings since the suite break in so it seemed like maybe I was out of the red with my past flames, at least for awhile. Season 5 of MINDFREAK was set to premier on A&E on July 19th and Criss was swamped with interviews and signings across the west coast and Vegas. It seemed as if he was flying out on every night of the week that he didn't have a show. Most of the time I would stay back in Vegas but there were brief occasions were he would ask me to come along for the ride; although he would usually say that it wasn't worth the hassle of interrupting my sleep pattern.

Monday July 5th

"Come on, just tell me where we are going…" I giggled as Criss zipped through the city traffic in his Lamborghini.

"I already told you, it's a surprise." He smiled, his eyes squaring behind his sunglasses.

I thought the fact that he was actually available to spend time with me was amazing. I could have sworn that earlier last week he had mentioned something about having to do an interview on that date but maybe I was mixed up again.

"Can you at least give me a hint?" I asked curiously while he pulled up to a cross walk.

"je'taime mon cherri." He replied sly.

My eyebrows raised. "Was that French?"

"Well, you asked for a hint." He laughed.

About 15 minutes later Criss pulled up to the airport and set a plane ticket on top of my lap.

_The ticket read, Pairs, France_

"Shut up!" I exclaimed loudly.

His head shook. "No, I'm serious. Look at the return date, that's even more exciting." Criss pointed to the boarding pass.

_RETURN: Paris, France to Las Vegas, Nevada: July 12__th__, 2010_

I swear I nearly fainted. I don't think that Criss and I ever spent that much time alone together.

"Wait, this was our honeymoon?" It finally dawned on me like a ton of bricks.

He nodded. "Yeah, it _was_. But why let it go to waste? I'm sure we both could use the time together still. Our bags are already checked in. I had management drop them off earlier. Actually, that should be them right behind us…" Criss looked in the review mirror and saw a black SUV pulling up along side our car.

"I'm so excited, I can't believe you picked out Paris of all places! How did you know that I always wanted to go there?" I exclaimed.

"I have resources." He winked.

~*~

The plane ride took forever. I was beginning to think that my rear end would eventually become permanently sewn to the plane seat. Thank God we had a slight layover so that I could stretch my legs. When we arrived in Paris the time change was much different. Our plane had landed on Tuesday at 10pm at night Paris time when back home in Vegas it would still technically be Monday afternoon. Everything about France was much different than the states including the airport. Their terminals were designed with circular looking chairs and red carpeting with a round low ceiling that gave the airport a much more modern appeal. A white limo waited outside for us and Criss' management stuffed our suitcases in the trunk. To be frankly honest, I wish his team wasn't joining us on the trip but I guess it was necessary.

Our short drive to the hotel was breath taking. I think I literally took at least 10 pictures out of the limo's window and Criss kept on pointing to spectacular buildings that must have been at least centuries old. The limo pulled up to a large white hotel called de Crillon and I girlishly muttered, "Oh my God!"

The de Crillon was a luxury hotel that I had only the chance to read about via gossip magazines and dream about while foolishly web browsing but now… now it was in front my eyes.

The Luxor was like motel 6 with dirty sheets and stained carpet compared that hotel. The second Criss and I walked in we were treated like royalty. Our bags were delivered up to our suite as we checked in. I was dumbfounded when I found out that hotel even offered in room pedicures and massages.

_Maybe we would have to stay for more than a week?_

"This is so beautiful." I nearly whispered as we entered our large room.

Criss walked towards the window and pulled back the antique patterned curtains. "Look, you can even see the Eiffel tower outside."

Setting my purse down on an rustic red loveseat I followed over to his side.

"That's amazing... Wow."

His arm wrapped around my waist and I felt his lips plant a gentle kiss on my temple. "Not as amazing as you."

My heart skipped a little as I rested my forehead on his. "I love you. Thank you so much for still following through with all this."

"Don't thank me. I wanted to." Criss rubbed his hand down the small of my back and then side stepped away from the window.

"Where are our bags anyhow?" I laughed.

"Most likely in the bedroom." He headed through the livingroom area and past a grand piano that had caught my eye.

The bedroom was gorgeous. There was a large king sized bed with a brilliant rose canopy and golden draw back ropes. The bathroom was humongous it had two sinks, a beautiful cream marble counter top and a large walk in shower including a Jacuzzi bathtub. Our suitcases were neatly set next to a closet door opposite of the bathroom door and kitty corner from the window.

"Well, babe I'm gonna go hit that shower before I unpack." Criss headed his way into the bathroom and I nodded.

I had no idea what all he had packed for me. In a way I was surprised to find that most everything I actually liked and found reasonable. He even remembered to pack emergency female items… _wait, a guy NEVER remembers to pack those. _My lips cracked into a smirk when I found a note attacked to my make-up bag.

_Dear Sarah,_

_I hope that you and Criss have an amazing time together and I can't wait to hear all the details! Love you tons!_

_Elaine_

Hmmm… well, that explained the tampons and high heels.

"Babe, you crack me up!" I giggled as I set my tooth brush down on the right sink.

"Why? What did I do now?" He asked cutely as he peaked his head out of the shower door.

"I can't believe you paid Elaine to pack for me."

His eyes rolled. "Well, I mean… you know. There are certain things that girls bring that I don't know about."

Soap suds bubbled in his hair and I smiled. "Right, I get it."

"So tomorrow do you want to check out the city or do you want to stay in?" He asked while he continued to rinse his hair out.

My mind wandered a bit while I watched his wet body through the clear glass door.

_That was one thing that the Luxor and the de Crillon had in common that I couldn't complain about._

"Depends on how we are feeling tomorrow. What would we do if we stay in?" My eyes shifted over to a decorative picture on the wall.

The shower cut off and Criss replied, "Anything you want to do."

_He really wasn't making this decision easy on me. Should I go sightseeing and take in all the wonders of France or should I stay in the luxurious hotel and make love to my sexy as hell boyfriend all day and night? _

"Does that include you?" I smirked playfully as I moved my gaze back over to his.

The shower door popped back open and he reached for a towel. "Me? Sarah, you can have me anytime you'd like."

My arms folded in staged attitude. "Then you won't be needing that towel, now will you?"

I fought with my own subconscious as I dreamt. I already _knew _that the timer in my hand meant nothing and the gasoline barrels were going to spill over any second with skulls and roses. I _knew _that Criss was endanger. I _knew _that someone was going to strike a match. I _knew _it all because I had dreamt the damn dream a million and a half times already. But I didn't know that when the flames started it would show Kevin's face.

"Criss?" I whispered frantically through the dark.

He sluggishly rolled my way and groggily replied, "Yeah?"

"You are okay right?" I asked.

It took him a moment to respond. "I'm fine, baby. Why wouldn't I be?"

Reality slowly surfaced again and I smiled half-heartedly. "No reason. I just keep on having these horrible nightmares. They're outlandish really. I'm sorry I woke you up."

His hand cupped my cheek. "No it's alright. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Maybe in the morning when my head is more clear or something." I replied through a sigh.

His arm wrapped itself around my stomach and I felt his lips peck a kiss on the curve of my neck. "Don't worry about anything sweetheart, I'm right here. Go back to sleep."

_Too bad it wasn't me I was worried about._


	24. Chapter 23

**Queen Of Hearts **

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 24**

**Thursday**

In less than a full sentence Paris was unbelievably amazing. The sights were out of this world and by day 3 Criss and I had nearly toured over half of what I dreamed I would never witness in real life. We saw the Eiffel tower, the Louvre which had so many pre-20th century paintings that I could spend a full day in the museum gazing at the artwork and sculptures, the famous gothic Notre Dame Cathedral, Pere Lachaise Cemetery (which I actually found quite interesting and historic) and so much more.

It started to mist-rain as I headed back to the hotel after taking a quick trip out by myself for a "treat" of French espresso drinks. To be honest I really wasn't too sure what kind of coffee I had even ordered for the two of us. I tried to compare the names of the drinks to Starbucks as much as I could and hoped for the best. When I got back to the suite I found Criss sprawled on the bed jotted down some sort of notes on the white space of a fashion magazine page.

"Here, I got you some Espresso… It's kind of experimental since I'm not fluent in French or even Starbucks lango." I laughed as I handed him the plastic cup.

Criss grinned. "Thanks babe. I'm sure it's fine." He paused and then questioned, "Do you have any paper by chance?"

Taking a seat next to him on the bed I searched through my purse and pulled out a mini composition pad that I used to jot down daily reminders.

"Here… sorry it's so small. What are doing?"

The magazine page that he had been doodling on crinkled into a tight ball in his right hand and he drew in a deep breath. "I'm trying to sketch out this idea I have. I got a call from Oprah and I have to do something for her 24th season bash in September. I guess she's shutting down all of Michigan Ave. and Ohio street for this."

My eyes widened. _Michigan Ave. and Ohio street, was the woman insane those were two of Chicago's busiest intersections!_

"Wow, that's crazy. What are thinking of doing?"

He shrugged as he flipped open my small notepad. "I'm thinking about trying one of my predictions."

_I liked predictions, they were usually safe._

"Oh that's wonderful! What a good idea!" I smiled widely.

_Safe always made me ecstatic._

"Yeah, I think so. I think everyone will enjoy it. I just really need to amp up this one and if it's what I have in mind… I probably shouldn't be drinking this extra sugary, double caffeinated, chocolate/unknown drink you just got." He chuckled.

"Amp it up how?" I grew nervous as I watched him draw.

He gnawed on the pen cap for a moment before he replied. "I think I'm going to have 3 or 4 wine barrels, much like the one's I used in my wine barrel escape and have them set a few yards away from one another. Then I will have them each numbered 1-3 or what have you and I will have some one choose a number randomly and write it down and I will do the same, trying to predict the number that choose. Therefore I will go inside one of the barrels, only catch is that they are going hooked up a line of dynamite and what ever number they pick will be the only safe barrel. Obviously, I am hoping to be inside the "safe" one."

I swallowed hard. "Wait, there's ONLY safe barell?"

He nodded as he drew it out faster. "Yeah, see… no real worries unless this fucks up but I really don't see that happening… here see?"

Criss pointed to so many different arrows and squiggly lines on his quick sketch and I was lost beyond reason.

"Do you get it?" He finally asked after he summarized how he would supposedly "reappear" off in another area and I shot him a deer in the head light look.

"Not exactly but I trust you." I replied shakily. Then it hit me like a play by play video. "Criss, these barrels… you aren't going to be using gasoline are you?"

His eyes suddenly lit up like a kid in a candy store. "Sarah, that's brilliant! We have tons of gallons left from season 5... I could easily fill each barrel," He paused to bite the pen again in thought then returned to the notepad and crossed something out. "Then we could just leak a line and create a further gap between each barrel and put me in a protective su-"

"Criss, I wasn't suggesting that really I was just asking more or less." I irrupted his rambling.

He shook his head, "No, no… that's a good idea. Actually, I think it's better. It creates more of an effect. Thanks babe, seriously. I appreciate the help. You know, I'm glad that you are getting more involved with me and my craft."

_Oh, great I had really fucked myself over now. _

His hand found mine and I forced out a smile. "Yeah, no problem."

"Hey, you know what? I've been thinking a lot lately about you and me and maybe when you and I get back to Vegas we can-" His phone cut him off with a loud ring. "Hold that thought right quick babe." He muttered as he flipped his phone open letting go of my hand.

I focused my eyes on his abandoned sketch as he took the call and bit down on my bottom lip. Maybe my dream was nothing but my own subconscious worrying too much and I was just overreacting. Criss was always doing intense stunts and crazy illusions, why was that one any different?

The harsh tone of his voice cut through my distorted thoughts and I returned my eyes back to his.

"You are fucking kidding me right?!" Criss yelled. "Well, how close is it? Okay… how much? WHAT! Get out of here! Who is it do you know?" He paused and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I can't be there that fast. No, I promised her. I am NOT leaving. Let him steal my money I don't fucking care! The truth will eventually come out. No one can read the damned thing any way but me. Buy it, I don't care how much. You buy it and you find out who in the hell he is and where he is." Criss hung up.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

It took him a second to cool down but when he did he replied, "Someone has my journal on E-bay for over $100 thousand and that's just that starting bid."

My jaw clenched. "I think we both know who placed there."

Criss narrowed his eyes. "I will make damn sure that he will rot in hell for what all he has done but not until I get my book back first."

_At moment I was certain that my nightmares weren't just a coincidence. _

**~*NOTE: I am so sorry that it has been taking me longer to update this story and that this chap is shorter. I have been working longer hours and my schedual has been crazy. I promise I will TRY to update sooner if possible and get a longer chap on here when I can. Thanks again for reading and beging patient!*~**

**Always, **

**Deppdependant**


	25. Chapter 24

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 25**

**Sunday**

I couldn't believe that our trip had gone by so fast and that it was already our last night together in Paris. I also couldn't believe that Criss was still Twittering fans on his cell phone while we were getting a personal in room massage. Sluggishly turning my neck I shot him a inquisitive glance from my massage table. His cell flipped shut and he flashed me a smirk.

"I needed to update since we'll be back tomorrow." He muttered from across the room.

My eyebrow raised at him as the masseuse worked harder on the pressure points in my shoulders. "You're addicted to that damned thing."

Criss shrugged and turned his head away from me again.

My entire body was growing limp from the stimulating and relaxing rub down. The room slowly grew darker as my eyelids became too heavy for me to open and I drifted off into a half unconscious state. I must have only been out for a few minutes because when my eyes popped back open the woman was still kneaded down my back and Criss was asleep on the table next to me. My eyes shut again but before I could slink back into my tranquil sleep I heard my cell phone blare from across the room.

"Now who is the popular one?" Criss laughed.

"Excuse me for one moment…" I said to the short red haired masseuse as I wrapped the white linen sheet around my breasts and hurried my way towards my purse.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Sarah? I'm really sorry to bother you but this is important." The moment Brandon's voice hit my eardrum I knew I must have flushed.

"I'll be right back," I signaled to Criss that I needed to take the call. He nodded and shut his eyes again.

Walking towards the bedroom I replied, "Brandon, are you alright? You sound shook up?"

The pause on the other line seemed endless and grew nervous.

"I feel horrible calling you. You know I don't want to cause you anymore drama than I already have. Is Criss with you right now?"

Glancing behind the door I muttered, "Not exactly…"

"This is all going to sound outrageous, and I really don't know why in the hell I even care but I was in Vegas last night and took a stroll down Freemont street and there was some random asshole claiming that he could walk the side of the building…" Brandon stammered.

"Okay… what in the hell does that have anything to with anything?" I sighed feeling as if he was just calling me to hear my voice rather than tell me something of utter importance.

"Sarah, he _actually_ climbed the side the building… I mean no poles, no strings or anything and then this morning this same crazy tool decided to go and catch himself on fire while levitating in mid-air and then disappeared and reappeared in a complete different outfit in the matter of seconds. Now, normally I wouldn't give a flying shit about all of this but by the looks of this moron he obviously wasn't Criss Angel!"

My heart sunk and I felt my veins begin to pump liquid ice. "Wh-who is he?"

"No one really knows, he calls himself The Mystical Avenger or TMA for short I guess, I have no idea… he wears this hilarious mask. Really, he tries way too hard." Brandon chuckled a bit.

My eyes rolled. _The Mystic Avenger… give me a fucking break._

"Hmmm… well, this is strange. Thank you for letting me know."

"No problem. I figured it might help. I mean he is supposedly supposed to be doing street magic in Vegas for the next few weeks. That's all I really know. I hope it helps you in some way or another. Everything I have seen really looks like he is a carbon copy of Criss except with an idiotic skull mask."

When I hung up with Brandon I tried to calmly walk back out and go back to enjoying my massage but all I could imagine was Kevin dressed up in an outlandish gothic mask and bondage pants trying to climb the side of a large building on Freemont street with hundreds of tourists shouting, "GO TMA! YOU ROCK!"

_Maybe, this Mystic Avenger guy needed some revenge from someone else and I knew just who to organize that with. _

**Monday Afternoon**

**Vegas**

"So, I called up my management and they said that they got my book back." Criss smiled happily as the limo drove us to the hotel.

"That's really good babe, I'm happy to hear that."

"Me too. I just really hope that no one copied that shit." He sighed in worry.

"I know. I'm sure everything will be fine…" My teeth found my bottom lip as I thought about what Brandon had told me. I knew I really needed to tell Criss about it. I would definitely have to fill him in when we got back to our suite.

The limo pulled around the corner of the Luxor's private parking area and Criss's eyes bugged behind his sunglasses.

"You've got to be fucking shitting me,"

Following his gaze out of the window I replied, "What the hell is going on?"

His head shook. "I have no idea… I don't have a signing today… at least not that I remember?"

"How many people did you Twitter!" I laughed as I watched the enormous crowd of Loyal fans corral the outside of the Luxor's entrance.

An elbow jabbed into the side of my rib and I laughed lightly. "Hey, I'm just saying."

"How am I even supposed to get inside?" Criss groaned a bit as the limo driver came across the vehicle and opened the door.

A few fans shouted from about 10 feet away and I think I felt an eardrum pop.

"MINDFREAK! YOU SHOW THAT BASTARD!" A curvy Latino girl screamed out.

Criss narrowed his eyebrows at me and shrugged. "Okay, then?"

_Oh, great… the magic war had already started._

As our suitcases were escorted to our room Criss's body guards attached themselves to us in a matter of moments and we attempted to slowly swim our way through the sea of people in the lobby.

**-TMA IS GOING DOWN INTO AMYSTICKA!-**

**-THE MYSTICAL AVENGER IS ABOUT TO BE MINDFREAKED BACK TO HELL!-**

**-CRISS IS FOREVER MY AVENGER AND MY ANGEL-**

At least the Loyals signs were creative. I will give them that. They were really showing their love and support over the issue. _Only one small problem… Criss had absolutely no idea what was going on._

"Sarah," Criss whispered as we passed through the crowd.

My hand squeezed tighter onto on his. "Yeah baby?"

"Who in the hell is The Mystical Avenger?"

"Um… I ugh," My mind turned over the situation for a moment and I drew in a deep breath. "I don't really know. Someone told me that his stealing your tricks."

He shot me a strange look but before he could reply he was interrupted by a fan wanted him to sign a bandanna.

Criss pulled out his sharpie and scribbled his autograph on the fabric in a slight hurry. I waited patiently as they chatted and the boys mother snapped a photo of the two. After that autograph a few more lined up and Criss became distracted with the Loyals conversations about the mysterious masked illusionist who was coping all of his artistic achievements. The way that they were describing him really didn't sound much like Kevin to me at all. First off they said that he was tall, Kevin was shorter. They also said that he had blonde hair, Kevin had dark hair. Although, I could never be 100% sold that it wasn't him until I laid on my eyes on the spineless 'magician' myself.

Once Criss and I had made our way up to our room I found a note that was slipped underneath the doorway. "What is this?" I questioned as I picked up the glossy red envelope and handed it his way.

Criss wrinkled his forehead as he ripped the seal open.

_Dearest Mr. Angel, _

_I know that I am more that likely known as your culprit of late but rest assured, I am in no way interested in stealing your work. Your artistic eye and creative outlook in this business means nothing to a man like myself. Instead, I want something that you will never offer me. Trust me, I will destroy you in every way possible to take that from you. As you have already discovered I am willing to go to the greatest lengths, and in time you will see that I can stretch so many more personally boundaries to get to what I want the most. It is my proposal that we meet and settle this score. I will be in Chicago to watch you perform for the Magnificent Mile Bash. Do yourself a favor and end this there before things get too ruinous. _

_-TMA-_

The letter crinkled into a tight ball inside of Criss's fist and I felt my stomach flip.

"I'll be back, I have to go to the warehouse."

"The warehouse? Criss, we just got back?" I shot him a chaotic glance.

"I'll be back by midnight don't worry… I really have to go check on those gallons of gasoline."

And with that he disappeared down the hallway in a mad dash.

**NOTE: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR REVIEWS! ONCE AGAIN SORRY IT IS TAKING ME SO LONG TO UPDATE! JUST CRAZY AT WORK AND THE LIKE. I WOULD LIKE TO SEND A SHOUT OUT TO Little Raven-Hawk PLEASE GO AND CHECK OUT HER NEW STORY CALLED DUECES WILD, IT IS ALSO A CA FICTION!! YAY! SHE IS AN AWESOME "LOYAL" READER OF MINE LOL AND HER STORY IS GREAT SO FAR!!! HERE IS THE LINK, www fanfiction net s/5376361/1/Dueces_Wild**

**Always, **

**Deppdependant**


	26. Chapter 25

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 25**

**August 25****th****, 2010**

"Doug come on, just drop it already!" Costa instructed with his arms folded tightly against his chest.

Doug rolled his eyes. "It was just a suggestion, I didn't think that it was going to cause this much shit with everyone…"

J.D. clicked his tongue to interrupt the two of them and I took another swig from my water bottle.

"Both your ideas are great. Doug, I just think that Costa is worried that Criss might not escape in time if we use double chains and two sets of locks."

Setting my water bottle back down on the asphalt I stood up off of the blue milk crate that I had been sitting on and inserted, "I agree with Costa. I think one pair is enough and no chains for God's sake."

Costa smiled at me and nodded. "Don't give the poor girl a heart attack, you ass."

Doug scribbled something off on his notebook and cleared his throat. "Fine, fine, it's up to Criss and whatever he wants. Where is he anyway?"

My eyes scanned over the barren and blocked off East side parking lot of the Luxor and I shrugged. "He was over by the barrels just a second ago…"

_I really didn't want to be there. I didn't want to be a part of this illogical and ridiculous stunt. If it wasn't for the fact that Criss's life was on the line then I wouldn't be there, I wasn't supportive of this illusion at all._

Costa ran off towards the edge of the parking area and peaked across a row of palm trees trying to see if he was loitering that way while J.D. found it much easier to TEXT him.

"He'll get back to you in a second, he's addicted his 'Crack Berry'." I laughed.

J.D. grinned. "I know, I wish George never bought him that damned thing- oh here we go, got a reply-" He flipped out his phone and checked his new message. "He says he'll 'BRB forgot his suit."

"Suit?" I questioned curiously.

"Yeah… didn't Criss tell you?" J.D. narrowed his eyes in surprise. "We are filling all 3 of the barrels up with gasoline so he has to be in a protective suit and goggles."

My eyes shut slowly trying to take in all the information. "So your are not only putting a line of gas around them but he is also going to be drenched?!" I exclaimed.

Doug turned towards me and butted in, "Think of it as his wine barrel escape but without the water… oh don't give me that face, he'll be fine."

Criss returned fully clothed in a obnoxious yellow suit with black goggles plastered on top of his head.

"Sorry about that, I didn't think that the barrels were actually filled." Criss waved his hands at Doug as if to dismiss something only they knew about.

I sighed roughly and took a seat back on the blue milk crate as the crew chatted with him about their ideas and possible ways to amplify the prediction and stunt some more before they practiced. Criss seemed less than objective to Doug's idea about double cuffs and chains around each barrel. _Somehow I knew he would like that idea more than myself and his brothers._

"Okay, so everything's all ready to go." Costa anxiously stuffed his hands inside his back pockets and J.D. took a step away from Criss who was making his way about half a foot ball field down the parking lot for the barrels.

"Did anyone pick a number?" Criss questioned.

"Yeah, Costa did." Doug shouted over to Criss as he poured a line of gasoline out from each barrel.

"Don't tell me! Did you write it down like I asked?" Criss asked loudly as he pulled his goggles down.

Costa nodded and pulled a small folded sheet piece of paper out of his wallet.

"The number is 2." He whispered over to all us as he held out the crinkled paper.

My eyes followed Criss as I watched him stand about 3 feet behind the barrels.

"Are you ready?" Doug hollered.

"Yeah, we're all good…" Criss signaled for him to come over his way and I cringed.

J.D. and Costa stood by my side and I saw Doug lift the lid of the barrel and chain Criss inside.

"Guy's, please tell me why he's in the 1st one?" I shot his brothers a confused glance.

J.D. raised an eyebrow. "It's practice, don't worry. Nothing is going to happen."

My foot tapped nervously as I continued to watch Doug handcuff Criss's to the top of the barrel's lid and casually walk away.

"Hey guy's step back behind lot number 400!" Doug yelled.

I looked down below my feet and noticed that the parking space read 260 in yellow paint.

J.D. and Costa jogged briskly with me tracing behind. Once we had reached lot 400 I saw Doug pull out a butane lighter and ignite the gasoline lines that connected the barrels.

My heart sunk. "What the hell, I thought that this was just practice and that nothing was going to happen?"

Costa glanced over at J.D. and he held out his hands. "I have no idea what is going on."

Doug ran towards us as the barrels exploded into tiny pieces. My mind went numb as the smoke cleared to reveal an empty lot besides the ashes of the wooden crates and metal handcuffs.

Doug coughed a bit and waved a puff of smoke out of his face. "What the hell? Where's Criss?" He panicked.

A few moments passed by and Costa grabbed at my hand the moment I went to run for the remaining barrels.

"It was number 2 wasn't it?" I heard an exasperated voice from behind us.

"Criss! Thank God!" I ran into his gasoline covered suit and clung onto him so hard that even I couldn't breathe.

_Or, Maybe I just couldn't breathe because of the fumes radiating off of him._

Costa smirked, "I always have to make things difficult, don't I?"

"You're an asshole bro." Criss laughed as he kissed my cheek.

"Glad you're alright. I love you too."

~*~

"I am being serious though, maybe you should try doing something else, you know like a card trick or something?" I ranted as we made our back to our room.

From look on Criss's face I wasn't deterring him at all. "A _card _trick?"

"Yeah, you know… those are cool. Like, something awesome… make them levitate or what have you?" I tried to pull something creative out of my ass but failed epically.

He rolled his eyes. "I've exhausted my levitating of cards for awhile, sorry sweetie. I really think that is more fitting."

"You just think that is fitting because you want to slaughter that TMA moron and I don't blame you, so do I. But I don't want to have you blown up in the process." I retorted as we walked through the door.

"I don't want that to happen either and trust me it won't. Look, it didn't today. I'm fine. I just need to work on my prediction, the stunt itself is near prefect." Criss replied as he headed straight for the shower.

"So, let me get this straight, I thought that it worked like the only safe barrel that didn't blow up was the one that they predicted?"

"True, but today that was not the case, they all blew up. I wanted that. I wanted to make sure that I had enough time to get out and reappear incase on the day that of my real predication I might predict wrong. Although, today I could have easily stopped the barrels from exploded by giving Doug a signal. On the day of the show I will not have that opportunity to give someone a signal." Criss explained as he tore off his shirt.

"Babe, you smell rancid. I'm sorry." I waved a hand in front of face. "I usually like the way gasoline smells, but whew, that's powerful shit."

Criss chucked. "Yeah, at least the crew took care of suit or that would be stinking up the hotel for days."

"WEEKS!" I giggled. "Just promise me that you will be careful, alright?"

"I promise. I always am." He planted a gentle kiss on forehead.

While Criss showered I made my way back towards the bedroom and sat down on the computer. I hadn't checked my e-mail in ages. When I wiggled the mouse the screen lit up showing an account to Criss's MINDFREAK website. I exed out of that and discovered another small WORD document that was entitled HOLLY.1. Intrigued, I decided to read on.

_Dear Holly, _

_I really hope that everything is going well with you. I am sorry to hear about all of your recent troubles with your management team and the production agency at Playboy. I know that you have been with them for ages and it would hurt me deeply if my staff betrayed me as badly as yours has. I hope that everything can be patched up between you and your team. If it cannot I do know of few connections that I would be more than happy to share. _

_I am so glad to hear to your term is going well and that you found a great a doctor to care after you! That is wonderful news! I wish the best for you and I honestly feel in my heart that you are going to be a great a mother. You are truly a wonderful soul and I wish that we could spend more time together than we do. The circumstances between us are unfortunate but I hope that someday that will change. Please, keep me posted as to how you are doing and how you are feeling. If there is anything you need let me know and I'll be more than happy to help. _

_Love, _

_Criss_

"I think you're right."

My entire body jumped and I spun around in the computer chair so fast that I nearly caught Hammie's tail between my toes.

"What?" I gasped.

"I think you're right, maybe I could tone it down a bit… _maybe_." Criss emerged out of the bathroom.

"Yeah, yeah. That would be good." Placing a hand over my heart I stood up and blocked his view of the computer. "I would appreciate that."

Criss narrowed his eyes into mine. "I would appreciate it if you didn't snoop at my _belongs_."

"But- it was open and I was, I'm sorry… I didn't know. I shouldn't have read it." I stuttered.

He raised an eyebrow seeming confused. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"The computer?" I signaled over to it.

Criss laughed. "Wow, that was totally not the direction I was going with that comment."

It took me a moment and I perked my lips. "Oh, right. The staring at your naked body part."

"Don't talk yourself out it now, com 'on what did you read?" Criss asked seriously.

"Nothing, just something silly that's all. I'm over it." I shook my head and backed further away from the desk. "I'd rather go back to my staring anyway."


	27. Chapter 26

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 26**

**September 1****st**

The small plastic cup stared me in the face as I sat on the toilet seat in worry. This was by far the worst timing for the stick to read positive. My head rested in my hands as I tossed an open pregnancy test box back into the pile along with 5 others. On the bathroom sink laid 5 different sticks all with the same result just in different patterns and colors. Either they were pink, double lines or a positive sign.

"Sarah, you alright in there?" Elaine questioned sweetly, knocking on the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" I sighed. "You can come in now."

She peaked through the door for a moment and judged my less than thrilled expression.

"What did it say?" She asked.

"Pregnant, pregnant, and indefinitely pregnant." I replied as I stood up.

She nodded and shoved her hands into the pockets of her shorts. "Wow, that's wonderful! Congratulations!"

My lips curved slightly. "Thanks, I just don't know what Criss is going to say."

Resting a hand on my shoulder she assured, "He'll be thrilled, I'm sure of it."

I couldn't wrap my head around the idea that I was pregnant. Maybe the tests were wrong. All _five_. They had all just malfunctioned. My period was just abnormally late due to stress and I was just freaking out. That was the answer to it all. _If only life was that easy. _I knew that Criss told me that he wanted to have children and we made the decision to boycott birth control for the time being but I didn't think that I'd land knocked up within the next month and a half. I suppose my mindset was more happy-ending and fairytale-ish; where the two of us could enjoy amazing sex and have a great time together, then sail off into the sunset for a few more years, have a lavish wedding when we were ready, buy an awesome house in the country and have children when I was nearing 30. Criss was already 42 years old. I needed to get my head on straight and start thinking logically. If were planning a family we did need to jump on the ball. Despite the fact that he still looked in his 30's, his biological time clock was "ticking" faster than mine. Maybe it was a good thing that we were about to bring someone into the world now instead of later?

My mind ran with a million different thoughts as I headed down to the theater to get ready for that nights show. How was I going to tell him? What was I going to say? What if he was upset? What about his career? What about the show? What about Holly? What if she really was pregnant with his baby? What the hell would I do then?

_God I needed some Tylenol. _

"Hey, I've been waiting for you…" Criss spun around in the salon built chair in his dressing room.

I shrugged. "Sorry, I know I'm a bit late."

Walking up towards him I set my purse down on the counter and cleared my throat quietly.

"You alright, you look like something's on your mind?" He asked while he kicked his legs up next to the full length mirror above the vanity.

"We need to talk about something." My hands slipped into his and I felt my stomach flip with anxiety.

His brown eyes narrowed into mine with an equal amount of inquiry. "Alright?"

"I-I'm-"

I was rudely cut off by his ring tone. "Hold on one sec." Criss groaned as he reached for his phone. He studied it for a moment and pressed an obvious ignore button. "Sorry, babe. You were saying?"

"Who was that?" I asked trying to buy myself some more time to build up courage to bring up the main topic again.

Criss hesitated for a moment. "No one important."

The shaky tone of his voice gave it away and I folded my arms across my chest. "What did _she _want?"

"I don't know, I didn't take her call. Now did I?" He snapped growing agitated with the direction of conversation.

"Whatever, I know that you two talk. It's alright." I sighed.

His foot tapped against the mirror. "She was probably calling to tell me how her doctors appointment went and how her pregnancy is doing."

My eyes rolled.

"ANYWAY, didn't you have something important to tell me?" He asked as he tossed his phone back onto the counter.

My head shook. "It can wait. We can talk about it after the show, I guess."

_He would have to find out sooner or later anyway. _

**PS. Sry this is a SHORTER chap. : ) Thanks again for reading and reviewing! **

**Always,**

**Deppependant**


	28. Chapter 27

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 27**

**September 8th**

Either Criss was too busy, too tired, too preoccupied or I wasn't in the mood to bring up the sketchy conversation that I knew was drawing near. Time wasn't going to make this go away and I was well aware of that factor. As the days had passed I had grown more accepting to the fact that I was pregnant. I had even purchased a baby name book and registered myself online to a new parent website. I was ready to become the best mother I possibly could but the reality of the situation wasn't helping me feel comfortable at all. I still didn't know much about Holly and her circumstance. Hopefully, if I had done my math correct she was about 5 months along now. I didn't want to keep holding that over Criss's head but I felt like I had no choice, especially now that we were bringing another life into the matter. What if Holly was also having his child? Then what would I do? Would I continue to stay with him or would leave?

Chicago was insane. It the most insane I had seen it in years. It was almost as if Obama was doing a speech in the middle of the city and everyone and their dog came out to witness. Only this time it was Oprah instead. I could never wrap my head around Oprah and her antics. Somehow she always seemed like she wanted to control people and their finance. But that was just my opinion on her. I was never really a big fan of her talk show either, I guess I like Tyra more. Over 30,000 people were lined down Michigan Ave. and part of Ohio street by 5pm. The place was packed and the gates were already closed earlier than the time they were supposed to be shut due to the maximum capacity being overloaded. _Thank God it wasn't too hot outside. _

At around 6:30pm Criss and I left Michigan Ave. and drove out to the location where he would be performing his prediction stunt. Since Oprah's crowd was so large in the city and _her stage obviously wasn't fire proof _we had to reserve a designated area about a mile away in an old car lot behind an abandoned pizza joint. To my surprise the crowd at the abandoned lot seemed to be just as dense as hers. Oprah had set up live wire camera's around the old building and lot that hooked up back to her big over head stage screen on Michigan Ave. so that her part of the crowd could witness Criss's stunt. Loyal fans and Chicagoans hollered and cheered the moment Criss stepped out of the limo. His management and body guards surround him like white on rice as he strolled up towards the news reports to do a few fast interviews and brush about 15 fans hands. Tilting my sunglasses down a bit I nervously scanned the crowd over for any grim familiar faces. I did see my _mom_?

"Mom!" I yelled.

She waved her arms out ridiculously from the middle of the crowd as if she were about to drown. "Sarah!"

Criss spun his head around holding a finger up to the FOX Chicago news reporter.

"Linda!" He waved cheerfully, ignoring the news reporter's scoff. "Tiny, pull her through." He directed over to his body guard.

Tiny nodded and headed towards the large orange barricade that was separating the crowd from the parking lot.

My mom squeezed past the perplexed assembly of people and came my way.

"Why didn't you answer your phone?!" She asked crossly through our embrace.

"I must have put it on silent. I'm sorry." I replied. "Did you call Criss?"

She shook her head. "No, I didn't want to bother him."

"Call him when I don't answer, he always answers. Well, text him… he always answers those."

Criss rolled his eyes at me before continuing with his interview.

"I was standing in that damned sea of madness for hours! And one thing I learned is to never open my big mouth and tell people that Criss Angel is my future son-in-law… they all thought I was batty!" My mom shot the crowd a pissed off glance. "WELL LOOK AT ME NOW, WHO IS OVER THE ORANGE TAPE, ASSHOLES!"

I stared at her for a moment trying to judge her sanity. "Mom, chill out. Breathe, take a breath!"

She inhaled loudly. "Sorry, I really have been standing in line since about 9am. YOU could have checked your phone!"

"I'm sorry. Come on… go sit down." I lead her over to the side of the building where Costa and J.D. were sitting on lawn chairs. Their were about 3 empty ones laid out along with a small cooler.

"Linda! Nice to see you!" J.D. smiled and Costa stood up to give her a hug.

She smiled sweetly. "You too boys!"

"Would you like something to drink?" J.D. asked flipping the cooler open.

My mom grabbed a bottle of Gatorade and took a seat next to Costa.

Criss came running back over to us. "Hey, where the hell is Doug at?"

"Doug's by the trailer with the crew." J.D. replied as he pointed to the west.

"Did you call mom?" Criss asked seriously.

"Yeah, I did. She's not coming. Your S-O-L on that one Bro, you know how she feels about this." Costa replied with a sigh.

Criss shuffled his feet a bit and groaned. "I know. I'll call her when I'm done."

"If I was your mother, I'd slap you so hard you're head would spin from one side of the earth to the other… but I'm not. I couldn't handle having 10 thousand heart attacks." My mom laughed. "But for every heart attack, I'm sure your mother is proud as a peacock for everything that you accomplish."

Criss nodded with a crooked smile. "No wonder you and my mom get along so well."

I laughed. "If you think that fishhooks in your back are painful, wait until my mom pulls out the _broom_."

Criss raised an eyebrow. "Your father decking me in the jaw was enough."

My mom chuckled. "Yeah, that was priceless, I will give your father that much."

"Yo, Criss! Come on you're gonna be on in about 5 mins!" A crew member yelled from the trailer.

Criss waved at him. "Alright! I'll be over in a sec!"

I tugged on his arm and motioned for him follow a few feet away from everyone with me.

"Criss, I want you to be careful." I warned as I grabbed his hands and brought them into mine.

His eyes read mine for a moment before he responded. "What's wrong?"

I wasn't sure how to answer to that question. "I just want you to be safe, okay? It's like REALLY detrimental that you don't-"

"Criss, three minutes!" J.D. hollered.

_Fucking people shut up and let me talk!_

Criss rolled his eyes and drew in a breath. "I have to go. I love you. I'll be fine. I promise. Babe, this is easy."

"I love you too. Don't promise me that you'll be safe, promise us." I whispered while he pulled me into a tight hug.

"Us?" He questioned.

"Criss, you have one minute!" A crew member brushed passed him carrying a pair of handcuffs.

_It's now or never…_

"I'm pregnant." I replied as I kissed his cheek.

Criss pulled away from me and evaluated my body for a moment. "What?!" He exclaimed loudly.

My eyes blinked at him. "Yeah, I'm-we're pregnant."

"Shut up! Oh my God! You're kidding?!" He quickly lifted me up off my feet and twirled me around so fast that my legs almost knocked over a near by camera man.

Giggling I muttered, "Babe, I ugh, think that they're waiting for you?"

"Fuck, I gotta go…" He set me down and planted a soft kiss on my lips. "God, I love you!"

"I love you more!" I waved as I ran back towards the side of the building.

After Oprah appeared on the big T.V. screen that was displayed on our side and had "formally" introduced Criss Angel, Criss then had a member from her side of the crowd back on Michigan Ave. draw a number out of silver box. All of the numbers in that box where between 1-3 and had equal amounts of each. The girl was not allowed to show our side of the audience what number she picked so that Criss couldn't be influenced on his prediction. She was to reveal what number she chose after he "escaped" from the barrel and revealed his prediction which was locked in another silver box on Oprah's stage. One camera stayed on that girl at all times, another on Oprah's main stage, and another on Oprah's crowd.

I personally knew that his prediction was the number 3 already but that was all I knew. How he had matched it with the girls random pick, I had no idea. At least I knew that he had that part right so far and was safe on the prediction.

"Are you ready?!" Criss yelled out excitedly to the crowd after he had explained how he was going to perform his stunt. Doug and the crew had already gone over the extremes of how dangerous and risky the stunt was as they assisted Criss into his hideous protective yellow suit. The 3 wine barrels were set up all the way at the end of the old parking lot far enough away from the crowd so that no one would get injured if when they were exploded. Two ambulances, 3 fire trucks and a handful of local policeman where scattered around the area to be sure of safety. I wasn't sure if their presence made me feel better or nervous.

Criss made his way to the 3rd barrel and his crew locked him tight inside, securely handcuffing his hands to the wooden lid and wrapping a heavy metal chain around the outside. The smell of gasoline was ripe in the air and my stomach turned a bit as I thought back to how bad Criss would smell again once he was through with the stunt.

"At least he's in the right one this time." Costa whispered over to me.

I grinned. "True."

The crew had already ran a line out from each barrel and Doug stood several yards away with a butane lighter and a timer around his neck.

The big screen T.V. read 1 min and 30 seconds.

My eyes searched the crowd again and I was relieved to find no one out of the ordinary.

"Sarah?" A crew member came running up towards me.

It took me a moment to peel my eyes away from barrel number 3.

"Huh?"

"These are for you?" She handed me a bouquet of red roses.

My eyebrows stitched. "From Criss?"

"No, from him… over in the 3rd row." She pointed behind us.

I turned around and scanned the crowd once again coming up clueless.

"Hmm… Thanks." I muttered confused as I glanced back over towards Criss in time to see Doug bend downward and light the gas lines.

The crowd went crazy and cheered Mindfreak over and over again. My mom stood up and took a few steps away from the side of the building along with Costa and J.D. and stood next to me.

"Those are beautiful. That was nice of him." My mom pointed to the roses in my hand.

The barrels ignited with a loud popping noise and I jumped.

It took me a moment to reply to my mom. "Ugh, yeah. I really don't know who sent me these."

"WHAT THE FUCK!" I heard Doug yell.

My head snapped around so fast I thought I was going to loose balance.

Doug ran towards the crew in hurry and I saw them flag the fire truck.

J.D. and Costa cussed before running Doug's way.

"What the shit!" Dropping the mysterious roses I jogged over towards the mass of concerned crew, firemen and police who all seemed to conjugate together in mere matter of a millisecond.

"What is going on?" I demanded Doug who was shaking like a leaf by the side of the trailer.

A trail of smoke and ashes filed the air from the explosion and I knew I was standing too close the barrels but I couldn't see anything through the dense smog. The firemen were watering down the barrels so fast I could tell that something had severely gone wrong but my mind was so bewildered by the fact that I couldn't seem to swallow it.

"Doug, what the fuck! Just tell me! Where is Criss?!" I screamed while holding onto his shoulders.

Doug gave me a look of utter disappointment and worry and signaled towards the barrels.

My eyes squinted back into the watery, smoky sludge. The firemen had put out most of the fire and paramedics were now on their way through. The crowd was as silent as a mouse besides a few sporadic "oh my God's" and "He's not dead. He's never dead! He's Criss fucking Angel!".

My mom stood there with a shit grin on face and I wanted to knock it off of her. "What's so damned funny?" I asked furious.

"Look, on the screen." She pointed ahead to Oprah's view.

My eyes rolled. "I'm going to kill him! That isn't funny!"

"YEAH!" Criss cheered as he reappeared next to Oprah's crowd and hammed up for the camera.

_I guess he even had time to take off the yellow suit?_

Oprah clapped and welcomed him on stage to open his prediction box and for the girl to show hers. Our side of the crowd went crazy, the loyal's started chanting MINDFREAK again. Needless to say everyone began screaming and cheering him on. A few even walked off to venture back into Oprah's group.

Once Criss had wrapped up his demonstration he said that he had an announcement to make.

"To all my Loyal's watching this, I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart. I would also like to thank Oprah so much for hosting this and giving me the opportunity to come here and MINDFREAK Chicago. I would however like to take this time out to send an important shout out to my beautiful fiancé Sarah. I just found out the most incredible news… I'm going to be a father soon! So, here is to us, I love you baby!"

The entire crowd let out an "aw" in unison and it took me a moment to realize that I was on every giant plasma screen across Chicago.

**Hope you liked the longer chap to make up for the shorter one. lol! **

**Always, **

**Deppendant**


	29. Chapter 28

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 28**

My mom insisted on that fact that Criss and I come back to her place for a "home cooked" dinner to celebrate the news. We didn't leave Oprah's bash until about 8:30pm and by the time we made it over to moms it was nearing a quarter past 9.

Glancing at the clock she frowned. "I hope you two don't mind leftover spaghetti? I made a huge pot of it last night figuring that it could carry me out through the week."

I smiled widely as I took a seat at the kitchen table. "I don't mind it all, you know how much I love your cooking."

Criss mirrored my response while busied himself with his phone. "That sounds great, Linda. Thank you."

While my mom dished us all bowls of her famous meal and reheated it in the microwave we chatted about the more than Mindfreakish performance that Criss had put on for us and millions of others watching.

"So why didn't you tell me that you were going blow up?" My eyes narrowed as a blow of hot pasta was set before me.

Criss forked his spaghetti and decided to let it cool a moment before taking a bite. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

"What do you mean?" My mom asked before I could.

"The 3rd barrel wasn't supposed to ignite. It was supposed to stay 'safe' and still standing after the other two were caught on fire. I don't know what happened. Doug told me that the gasoline lines must have ran too close together. I really don't see that possible unless the crew read my directions wrong." He chewed.

"Well, I'm glad you made it out in time!" I gasped. "What the hell, that's not right… what if something horrible happened?"

My mom cleared her throat trying to erase the tension that was developing between us. "It's not his fault Sarah, calm down. Everything is fine. Criss, I think that you did an outstanding job on your stunt. How did you reappear on the stage?"

He winked at her. "I wish I could reveal that one. In due time, maybe I will."

I rolled my eyes. _Why did my mom even bother asking?_

"Oh, Sarah… did you ever figure out who those roses were from?" My mom asked curiously as reached in the center of the table for the parmesan cheese.

Shaking my head I replied, "No, I have no idea."

Criss shot me a interested look. "Roses?"

"Yeah, Ashley from crew came by and handed me a bouquet of red roses. At first I automatically thought that they were from you but she said that they were from someone in the crowd. I dunno, someone in row 3 or something. I looked and didn't see anyone familiar."

His eyes squinted in obvious thought. "You don't think that they were from-"

"I didn't see him anywhere." I cut him off already knowing what he was getting at.

"Yeah, me either. I didn't see that TMA fag anywhere or him. Some cowards they are." Criss chuckled.

"TMA?" My mom seemed to state more than question. "That's that Mystical Avenger guy, right?"

We both nodded.

"Yeah, yeah. I know who he is!" She paused to laugh. "I've seen him around here before. What was it, about a month or so ago… I don't know much about him, besides his ridiculous mask and dog piss platinum blonde hair."

Criss bubbled over in laughter. "Shit that's funny! At least I look good."

I sighed at his cocky attitude and my mom tossed out her hands as if to display a scale.

"This is that TMA moron…" She put her hand down towards the floor. "And this is you." She raised her other up above her head. "Yeah, you've got him blown outta the water. I'm pretty sure is only in twenties too. I'd be boastful about the situation."

_Great, there we go AGAIN with my mom trying to get in my boyfriends pants. Dear God… so help me, if she wasn't my mom!_

Criss smirked smugly and replied, "His battleship as been destroyed."

My mom giggled and returned. "Game over."

Feeling totally lost in their ridiculous conversation I chimed in, "Soooo… mom, thanks for the dinner."

"Aw, no problem honey. Hey, did you go to the doctors yet?" She questioned.

_Whew, new topic. _

Criss glanced my way excitedly.

"No, I haven't. I just took a test last week and-"

"Whoa, what? Wait, You took the test LAST week and I'm just finding this out TODAY?" He pushed his bowl away and it clinked loudly against the tables candle center piece.

My mom dropped her mouth open in reaction to the dramatic response.

"Well, I didn't want to freak you out." I started. "And with everything else going on, you know…"

"With Holly?" My mom interjected quietly.

My eyes shut wishing that she hadn't butted in.

"Yeah, _mom_… with Holly and other things."

"What other _things_?" Criss questioned attempting to be calm.

I shrugged loosely. "Just your work and schedule. I wasn't too sure if you'd be excited or annoyed."

He turned away from me seeming to more annoyed at the fact that I said that he would be "annoyed" than anything else.

My mom stayed silent and began to clear away the table now appearing as if she knew her place.

Criss picked at his thumb nail and replied, "Well, I'm happy that you finally decided to tell me instead of hiding it from me. I guess, there really isn't any sense in being upset in it anymore. It's done and over with now. As for Holly, you know we are just taking that one day at a time and that's all we really can do, since you are so convinced on NOT taking my word that I didn't fuck her."

I heard a plate slam in the sink and my mom whispered, "Oops."

"And, about my schedule and my work," He continued. "I am willing to make any sacrifice, even if they are detrimental to my career for this child. I want to give it the world. I will give it the world. Understood?"

"Yeah, totally." I nodded as I reached for his hand. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier."

"Alright, knock off the 'Day's of Lives' crap, who wants some celebration pecan pie?!" My mom turned around with a dull knife in her hand.

_Three barrels… check. Gasoline… check. Timer counted down to zero… check. Matches? Well, there was a butane lighter… so, check. Skulls? No, skulls. Oh well. And… No church. Roses, ugh… DOUBLE check. Fire and being worried for Criss, TRIPLE check. _I laid in bed that night trying to compare my recent nightmares with that day and it was uncanny how similar it all seemed. The only thing that kept on nagging at my brain was the reason as to why I was STILL having the damned dream. If the day was so much like my nightmare, then why was the same vision impairing my sleep? I rolled over and checked my phone on my mom's guestroom's nightstand. It read:

_**1:20am **__and;_

_**3 NEW TEXT MESSAGES**_

_3 new texts? It was 1am? Who was trying to get a hold me?_

_**NEW TEXT FROM MOM:**_

_**10:46am**_

-**HEY, IT'S MOM, WHY AREN'T YOU ANSWERING YOU PHONE?! I'M IN LINE WITH LIKE 100 ZIL. PPL, PICK UP ALREADY!!! LUV YOU!-**

I laughed quietly as I remember my moms face through the crowd earlier that day.

_**NEW TEXT FROM BRANDON:**_

_**11:00pm**_

_**-Sarah, this is important, I need u to call me ASAP!-**_

_**NEW TEXT FROM PRIVATE CALLER:**_

_**12:51am**_

_**Hope you enjoyed my present. **_

_**-TMA-**_

My heart raced as my eyes burned into my cell phone screen. _How in the hell did he even send me "private text"? I had never even heard of such a thing before. What did Brandon have to tell me? _

"Criss, wake up!" I shook him hard, flashing the light of my cell phone next to his face.

He groaned a bit and buried his head deeper into the pillows. "What the hell, turn the light off..."

"Criss, that TMA- whatever, he called me. He sent me a text. He knows my number!" I rattled off like a fool.

Criss sat up a bit and sleepily squinted at my cell phone. "What the shit, that's messed up."

"I know, how could he have gotten my number?!" I exclaimed.

He laid back down with a shrug. "I have no idea, I'll get on it tomorrow babe. I promise. We're not dealing with his shit anymore. I wouldn't worry about it though, it could always just be someone messing around."

My eyebrow lifted towards his back in the dark. "Okay, goodnight."

"Love you." He muttered as he trailed back to sleep.

"I love you too." I replied as I quietly tip toed out of bed.

_Somehow I felt as if whatever it was couldn't wait until morning._

**Note: So happy that everyone liked Criss's stunt in the last chap. I am glad that it was easy to read and understandable. lol! Sometimes it's hard to write them and make sure that the reader can imagine it inside their head, so I am glad that you all could!! yay!!! Let's hope that this TMA douche is going down, lmao! We shall see soon, maybe even within next few chaps?! *Gasps***

**Always,**

**Deppendant**


	30. Chapter 29

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 29**

Granted, sneaking out of my mom's apartment and stealing the keys to her car in the dead of the night made me feel a little juvenile but I needed to settle my head once and for all. The palms of my hands grew sweaty as I cut the engine of my mom's Pontiac off and starred at Kevin's house. It was already a quarter to 3am and my eyes felt like sandpaper from lack of sleep but the longer I gazed into his windows the more certain I felt of myself and my risky speculations. No other noise seemed to register inside of my head besides my own erratic heartbeat as I crept my way up his yard and onto his front doorstep. Pressing the doorbell, I drew in a deep breath. It took a moment before he arrived but when he did I surprised at what I saw.

_Brown hair tousled from obvious sleep stared back at me like a bold stain on a white shirt. _

"Sarah? Are you alright?" He muttered as his eyes evaluated me.

I swallowed hard in attempts to gather my voice. "We need to talk."

"It's nearly 3am… can't this wait until morning?" He groaned sounding agitated.

"It's important." I insisted as I stepped closer towards him.

"Fine, yeah. Come in?" The door opened wider and he felt around on the wall to flicker on another light in the living room.

"So what's going on?" He finally asked as we made our way to the couch.

"First off, stop calling and harassing me… that's getting old." I sighed.

"Alright, point taken. You harassed me by stopping by at 3am. We're even." He yawned.

My eyes scanned around the room and I noticed a large UPS box in the middle of foyer that read SONY. Another was stacked on top of it that read DELL and yet three others that read ED HARDY.

"So, some job… you got a new plasma?" I gestured towards the boxes.

Kevin shrugged, seeming to finally wake up. "Yeah, got a raise more or less."

I smirked. "I noticed the Benz in the driveway as well. It must have been a pretty damn good raise Kev?"

His face flushed. "Yeah, so anyway. Is that all you came here for was to tell me to stop calling you because I will. I'm over it, Sarah. You can have Criss or whatever, be happy with him."

My eyebrow raised. "Sure, I can be happy with him now… now that you raped him for over a $100 thousand!"

Kevin shot me a unbelievable head shake. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on, I know you came to Vegas… I saw you on the security tapes. I know damn well that you were in our room! I know you burnt those fucking pictures of me and I KNOW you stole his book!"

He tossed his hands up in the air. "Fine! You got me. It was $175 thousand by the way sweetheart and I'm enjoying every damn penny of it."

My jaw dropped at his blunt response. "So, you admit it all… God, you're sick. I can't believe you!" I stood up and paced the room in anger.

Kevin shrugged. "I can't believe you! You are just as bad as me…"

"How so?" I snapped.

"You're staying with someone who loves his job much more than he could ever love you. You know it was never like that when you were with me."

"Maybe not, but you're showing your true colors now. When Criss finds this out he's going kill you!" I warned.

Kevin laughed. "If he really cared, I wouldn't have that Benz."

My eyes rolled. "And so you sent me those roses today, huh, 'TMA'?"

Kevin gave me a confused look. "TMA?"

"Don't play stupid, I know who you are pretending to be."

"I have no idea who is that is honestly…" His eyes met mine.

"Oh please, the magician that is suddenly stealing all the Criss's work, The Mystical Avenger…"

He sat there looking like I was speaking Greek. If there was one thing I knew about Kevin, I knew when he was lying. And surprising, he was telling me the truth about TMA.

Kevin drummed his fingers on the side of the couch and cleared his throat. "I will tell you something that might help you find this guy…"

I sat back down next to him with a groan, "Spit it out…"

"Under one condition, you don't tell Criss that I ripped off his book?"

I ran a hand through my hair and shook my head 'no'. "Absolutely not!"

"Fine, then let this guy keep on ruining his life for all I care."

Drawing in a shaky breath I replied, "Okay, I promise… but this had better be good."

Kevin leaned in towards and me rested his chin on the palm of hand. "I did make ONE and only ONE copy of Criss's journal. I placed it on E-bay under a different account name so it was harder for Criss's management to access." He paused to laugh condescendingly.

"Who bought it?" I asked.

"I can't say. I swore to confidentiality."

"Bullshit! Just tell me!" I yelled as I stood up again.

"Calm down. I can give you a hint. Think about the song we had we our first kiss to." He riddled as I headed for the door.

I sped back to my moms trying to beat the rising sun. My brain was on overdrive trying to remember what the name of the of the song Kevin and I had our now more than repulsive first kiss to. In all honesty, I could hardly even remember that day. It was so many years ago. I think it was back in 2003. I could vaguely envision the two of us sitting outside of my dads house in his old Ford pick-up truck nervously giggling about some random joke and leaning in towards one another. I knew that his truck radio was on and probably blasting way too loud but I couldn't make it out in my mind. What did that song have anything to do with it anyway?

When I made it back to my mom's I successfully snuck my way back inside and quickly changed back into my pajamas just in time for Criss to wake up and whisper, "Good morning baby, did you sleep good?"

_Sleep good… what a joke!_

That next day Criss said that he had to do some local interviews in the afternoon and I told him that while he was out I was going to go catch up with some friends and family. Lesley and Carmel invited me out to lunch at Applebee's in town and afterwards we went out shopping. It was nice to spend sometime with my old friends and catch up. My mom even let me borrow her car (_not steal it_) to go visit my dad for a few hours and spend some time filling him in on the pregnancy news. While I was driving back to my mom's apartment my cell phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered as I pulled up to stop sign.

"Hey, sorry to bother you. Did you get my text last night?" Brandon questioned.

The car accelerated a little faster than I intended as I replied, "Yeah, I did. Sorry, I was busy. Is everything okay?"

"I was wondering the same about you?" He responded.

"I'm fine. Why what's going on?"

"I just saw the Bash in Chicago last night and I heard the news about you-"

"You're in Chicago?" I asked trying to sound less excited than I truly was.

"I am. I'm here again to meet up with a music producer." He replied.

"Oh that's great…. I mean, cool. Where are you staying?" I asked as I pulled into my mom's driveway.

"Same place, the SAX. I usually do when I'm the city, I prefer it here. Where are you?"

"At my mom's."

"Oh…" He paused for a moment. "Well, I wish you were here."

My entire body froze. "Wha-what did you say?"

He sighed gently. "Nothing Sarah. Never mind it."

"Brandon, seriously… what did you say?" I nearly begged.

"That I wish you were here. I didn't mean for it bother you. I'm sorry if it did… I just miss you, that's all."

_That was the song! I knew it! "Wish You Were Here" By Incubus. _

"Hey babe, glad you're back! Com'on your mom just popped in movie!" Criss hollered from outside my mom's apartment window.

_What was he doing home already? What time was it?_

"Hello?" I muttered back to my cell phone.

Brandon must have heard Criss's voice because only a dial tone answered me in return.

**Note: Alright, Time to do what I had everyone do in LUCKY 13 (with Joann and Kristy), If you review go ahead and feel free to leave who you think is "The Mystical Avenger" A.K.A "TMA". YAY! I can't wait to see who you all think he is! lol!**

**Always,**

**Deppdependant**


	31. Chapter 30

**Queen of Hearts **

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 30**

The sounds of Johnny Depp's voice on my mom's DVD player was muffled out by Criss's scarfing down of the popcorn bowl. We all sat in her living room watching the classic Pirates of the Caribbean 4, which had just been released on DVD.

"But why is the rum ALWAYS gone?" I quoted with a giggle as I snuggled up tighter against Criss's chest with the popcorn bowl tilting ever slightly my way.

"Shhhh… I love this part, they are about to command the squidy ship dealie-o." Criss pointed to the T.V. screen and my mom laughed at his term for the sea monsters.

If there was one man that I thought was more sexy or just _as _equally sexy as mine it was most defiantly Johnny Depp. I couldn't lie, my eyes evaluated Jack Sparrow in a less than "Disney" rated manor as I watched him sail the high seas and plunder about selfishly. _Maybe I just was really addicted to dark haired men in eyeliner? _A smile danced across my lips as I imagined Criss dressed up in a pirate costume with long breaded hair and a broken compass. _Hmmm… maybe I could convince him to dress up as Jack for Halloween…? _Then I grew guilty and returned to the popcorn.

"Hey, I need to talk to you…" I pulled Criss aside after the movie.

"What's up?" He asked as he stood up and stretched.

"I was thinking about going out tonight. I wanted you to come with me?" I offered shakily.

"Go out, where? We leave tomorrow afternoon, remember?" He pointed out.

I nodded. "I know. I just, well… this is important. I want you to go with."

His eyes questioned again waiting for me to continue.

"To go see Brandon." I muttered.

"What?!" He exclaimed.

I bit my lip. "Yeah, I need to see him. I just don't want to go by myself. I'd feel safer if you came."

He sighed roughly. "What the hell do you need see him for?"

"It's a long story, can I explain on our way? Just trust me, it's important."

~*~

The entire drive to the SAX hotel was spent trying to calm Criss down and have him not turn the car around and mapquest directions to Kevin's house so that he could personally annihilate him. It was also spent trying to convince him that he was going to stay in the hotel Lobby while I went inside and talked to Brandon unless I directed him otherwise.

"I swear Sarah, if this mother fucking moron lays a single finger on you, I will come in there and blow his goddamned head off!" Criss yelled as we walked inside of the SAX.

I drew in a deep breath trying to imagine Capt. Jack again to put me in a more peaceful set of mind.

"Do you understand?" Criss asked.

_Do ya' savy… do ya' savy… I mentally restated for him. _

Half smiling I replied, "Yeah. I do."

"Alright, I'll be here. I'll text you in 10mins." He assured.

"Okay… his room number is 207." I replied as I headed towards the Elevator.

Brandon knew I was dropping by. He thought I was just going to stop in for a quick "hello" and to catch him up on my personal life but I of course had no intentions of doing so. I was dead set on the fact that he was going to be caught red handed in a bold faced lie and that I was going to have page Criss up to his room to give him a can of not so "magical" whoop ass… _again_.

"Hey, come on in… it's so good to see you!" Brandon pulled me into a tight hug as I entered his hotel room.

Forcing out a genuine smile I replied, "Yeah, you too."

"Have a seat at the bar, I'll fix us… well, me a drink. Do you want some water or something? I'm sorry that was rude, I forgot about the pea in the pod for moment." He chuckled as he walked over to the mini fridge.

Sitting down on at the wet bar I shrugged. "No, it's fine. It's all new to me as well. I'll just have a water. Thank you."

Brandon returned with two bottled waters and sat down next to me. "So tell me, how are you?"

"I'm doing well. Yourself?" I questioned as I studied his hair.

_It was still the same, not platinum blonde… hmmm…._

"I'm alright, just been busy with the band. I'm happy though, I'm leaving for Bermuda in a week."

"Bermuda?"

"Yeah, time for some va-ca… which is long over due. Hey, speaking of that, did you and asshole ever take your honeymoon?" He asked with a sigh.

My jaw tensed. "Yes, me and _asshole _DID and me and _asshole _had a blast."

Brandon shifted his eyes away from mine and drew in a breath. "Great. Good to hear that you had a nice time."

There was an awkward moment of silence between us and I nearly jumped when it was broken by the vibration of my cell phone.

**1 New Text Message from Criss**

**What's goin on???!!!!!!**

I chuckled to myself at his over use of punctuations and typed my reply:

**Chill out! Nothin yet. **

"Sorry about that." I flipped my phone shut and slipped it back into my pocket.

"It's alright. Hey, we need to talk about something… that's kind of why I've been trying to get a hold of you…" Brandon began sounding a little uneasy.

"Sure, what's up?" I asked nonchalantly.

"I think I know how that Mystical Avenger guy ripped off Criss." Brandon said seriously.

I titled my head. "How so?"

"Well, this is going to sound odd, but I went on E-Bay to get some really cheap used stereo equipment for my home so I could just thrash it out and shit and while I was on there I saw an add for 'Criss's Private Book of Secrets', so I was curious and clicked on it and it brought me to a hand written journal. Well, that was like over $175,000 which was ridiculous… but then there was another offer on a copy for only about half of that. Then I remembered this outrageous conversation that you and I had while you were staying here about how he likes to doodle out what he does before he performs it and how you were telling me that you could never understand what they meant… well, this journal looked exactly what you said. So, feeling perplexed and as if it was somewhat important, I purchased it. I have it here. I've been wanting to give it to you so that you could give it to Criss, so that it doesn't leak out anymore than it already has."

I sat there starring at him with a blank look on my face. I had no idea how to respond.

"So… yeah, I'll go get it then?" Brandon stood up and headed off into the bedroom area of his suite.

My phone buzzed off.

**1 New Text Message from Criss **

**??? : (**

Brandon returned with copied journal and set inside of my hands.

"And no one else but you saw this?" I questioned lowly.

He shook his head. "No."

"Do you know who you got it from?"

"I have no idea, there wasn't even a return address." He shrugged.

My eyes narrowed into his. "You know, this all seems really fishy to me… after all you and Criss hate each other. Who is to say that you aren't giving this to me as a peace offering now that you just attempted to ruin his career?"

Brandon nearly laughed. "Oh please, I don't hate him. I'm jealous of him yes, but I do take into consideration that whatever hurts him, hurts you and because of that I wouldn't do anything to the guy as much as I wouldn't mind it. If anything Sarah, I'm trying my best to help him out. I would like to think that if someone ripped off my lyrics or my songs he might do the same for me even though he doesn't have much respect for me… it's like I do at least have a respect for his art and his role in this business."

"You know what, I believe you. I just don't belie-"

I was interrupted by a loud knock on Brandon's hotel door and my heart sunk.

"Hold on, that's probably part of the band… I'll be right back." He stood up and made his way for the door.

Instantly, I checked my phone.

**1 New Text Message from Criss:**

**WTF is taking you 4ever? Im on my way up**

"What the hell?" I heard Brandon sigh as he opened the door to reveal Criss standing in the hallway looking like he was about ready box somebody's head off.

I ran over in time to put a stop to anything too tragic. "Hey, what are you doing here?" I questioned trying to look shocked.

Criss rolled his eyes. "I'm ugh, looking for you… come on… let's go."

Brandon folded his arms against his chest and stood directly in between the two of us.

"You know Criss, you're a real prick. I don't think that you need to control her every fucking movement. If she wants to visit me she should be able to."

"Oh, I'm the prick? I'm not the one that goes around and fucks other peoples girlfriends!" Criss shot back.

"Don't drag me back down that road… you could never treat her as good as I did anyway." Brandon bragged. Criss there stood there tapping his foot against the floor in attempts to calm himself down but Brandon kept on egging him on with shitty comments until I finally snatched up the copied journal and squeezed past him. Criss took one glance at what was in my hand and snarled back at Brandon.

"So it was you all along?!"

"What?" Brandon's head spun back around.

"You- you're the fuck who's been getting into all my shit lately." Criss grabbed him by collar of his shirt and pushed him so hard against the wall I heard Brandon's head thud.

"I… have no idea… what you are… talking about." Brandon struggled through Criss's tight grip.

Criss shot me a confused glance and I shook my head. "Let him go, he didn't do anything."

"I swear to God, if I find out that you are part of any of this… I will personally rip you apart! You were already nothing to me." Criss roughly released him and grabbed onto my hand.

"Oh, and for the record… you seriously need to reinvent your band… shit I mean, how many years has it been? Lay off the pot dude."

Once Criss and I were in the elevator I whispered, "Are you serious? _Lay off the pot_?"

He shrugged still fuming. "Hey, it sounded good at the time."

My eyes rolled, "Men."

**Thanks for all the reviews on the last chap! So glad to hear what eveyone's guesses are! lol! Keep them coming : )**

**Always**

**Deppendant**


	32. Chapter 31

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 31**

"Well, I'm more confused now than I was before, to say the least." Criss muttered as we walked back into my moms apartment.

"Me too, hey be quiet walking down the hallway, mom's already in bed." I pointed out.

He nodded and carefully headed for the guestroom with me trailing behind him.

Taking a seat on the bed I groaned and ran a hand on my stomach. "My God, I'm starving."

Criss spun around, his shirt half off with an arm hanging out of his shelve. "We ate like 3 hours ago… how can you possibly be hungry? Oh… OH!"

I smiled humorously as I patted my stomach. "I'm fine, really. I don't even think that I'm far enough along yet to be craving food."

Criss tore off his shirt completely and replied, "You hang tight, I'll go find you something."

He disappeared before I could object and returned moments later with a bag of Cheetos and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a paper towel.

_Criss Angel wasn't much of cook. _

"Sorry, I don't know where you're mom keeps her plates." He apologized as he set the sandwich in my lap and unsealed the bag of Cheetos.

"I love you, you know that." I kissed his forehead before I took of bite.

"I love you too, hey tomorrow when we get back in Vegas… I want to be sure that you make a doctors appointment."

"I will. I promise." I agreed as I swallowed. "You will come with right?"

"Of course I will come! So make the apt. for a Monday when we don't have a show planned." He replied as he stood back up again.

"I'm gonna brush my teeth and get ready for bed, you eat up. I think I might hop in the shower as well. That way you have more time in the morning."

"Alright, babe." I nodded as I scarfed down on the Cheetos.

It wasn't 5 minutes later and Criss came back into the bedroom with a look of absolute embarrassment and shock written on his face.

"I-ugh-I think I'll wait on that shower idea…." He sat back down next to me rather mechanically.

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked.

"I… just think that your mom… finally got what she was waiting for…"

A Cheeto feel to the floor and I dropped my jaw. "Did she run in on you?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, we kinda ran in on each other… oh my God… that was too much… too fast."

I busted out in laughter. "She didn't molest you did she?"

Criss narrowed his eyes into mine and replied, "No, but she didn't apologize."

"Please, tell me that she wasn't naked!" I closed my eyes trying to hide from my own embarrassment.

He chuckled. "No, she wasn't… _I _was."

"Hmmm, well… maybe she'll stop obsessing now that she knows what's underneath it all." I laughed as I crinkled up my napkin.

Criss rolled his eyes and shivered. "Hmmm. Maybe…"

"Oh whatever, you know you think that my mom is hot." I joked.

He elbowed me. "She is attractive. I won't lie to you. She is good looking. Just not my type."

My eyebrows stitched.

"Hey, now… don't be jealous of your own mom!" He laughed.

"I'm not…" My arms folded. "You do flirt with her though."

"I do not!" He retorted. "She just is very… ummm… what is the word?"

"Desperate when it comes to trying to impress you." I finished for him.

Criss shook his head. "I wasn't going to go THAT far."

"I love my mom, but she is soooo crazy over you. More so crazy over you than I am." I wiggled my finger next to my head to single that she was nuts.

"Well, I could always just leave you and go for the MILF action." He cracked as he glanced back the door. "But, I kinda look at it this way, I already have another sexy MILF in training right here…"

I smirked. "That is so wrong."

"Not as wrong as your mom's housecoat, hey… I'm the one who is going to have nightmares!" He bit his nails anxiously.

**~*~**

The next morning I woke up at around 7am with my stomach in knots. I nearly made it to the bathroom before I vomited not only once but twice. It didn't feel like the typical cold sweat nausea flu, it was different. It was more like a sudden rush and urge of just needing to throw up and be done with it. When I was through I climbed back into bed and curled next to Criss with my arms wrapped around my stomach.

"Baby, you awake?" I whispered.

He rolled around a bit and his eyelids fluttered trying to adjust to the morning sunlight that was filtering in the window.

"Yeah…" He muttered.

"I just threw up." I pointed out, not so sure if I should feel excited or miserable.

Criss moved onto his side and wrapped his arm around me. "Aw, you okay?"

"I'm fine, I feel a little better now." My head tucked itself underneath his chin.

His hand ran down to my waistline and rested between to the top of my pajama bottoms and my belly button.

"Calm down little one… I don't like to see mommy sick." He chuckled.

I giggled. "I wonder what it is… do you want a boy or a girl?"

He thought for a moment and replied, "I'd be happy with either or. I think I would sound buyist if I chose one sex over the other."

I nodded. "I agree. Both have equal pros and cons."

"If have a boy though I would like to name him after my father." He added.

"I could deal with that." I reached down and grabbed his hand on my tummy.

Criss rolled on top of me and pinned me between his elbows. "I'm so excited, really I am. I can't wait." He kissed my forehead and added, "Whether it is a boy or a girl. I wouldn't want to bring another life into this world with anyone else but you. I hope you know that. I've never trusted anyone else as much as I trust you. Not even Joann."

I shivered a bit at her name. "You mean that you two never even tried?"

Criss shook his head. "Not really. We talked about it a few times. I think she wanted children much more than I did at that time in life and I wasn't in the position in my career to take on that responsibility."

There was a soft knock on the bedroom door and my mom muttered, "You all awake in there?"

Criss rolled off of me and we both sat up quickly adjusting ourselves.

"Yeah, come in!" I hollered back.

_Damn, I felt like I was in high school. _

The door popped open and I finally realized what Criss was talking about when he mentioned my mom's housecoat. It looked more like a bathing suit pull over that night wear, to be honest I didn't even know my mom owned something that "scandalous".

"I'm going to put breakfast on. Eggs sound alright?" She asked.

We all sat around the table for breakfast and I couldn't help but notice the ridiculous tension between my mom and Criss. Personally, I thought it was hilarious. My mom kept on smiling and blushing over him as he ate his bacon. He however avoided her glances at all costs.

"So, you two are cutting out at around noon, right?" She questioned as I brought my plate to the sink.

"Yeah, around then, right Criss?" I double checked.

He nodded as he sipped his orange juice. "Yeah, noon."

His cell phone blared off from the bedroom and I watched as he excused himself from the table.

He came back about 3 minutes later with the phone glued to his ear. From what I over heard I could tell it was Holly and whatever she was saying didn't seem positive from Criss's less than thrilled expression.

He hung up with a sigh and slammed his phone onto the table muttering the words, "_Fucking bitch_."

"Should I even bother asking?" I folded my arms against my chest.

My mom rested her chin on the palm of her hand and shifted her gaze between the two of us almost as if she were watching a play.

Criss bit his bottom lip. "Holly wants me to fly down to California and go to the doctor with her. I told her 'no' and she thinks it's bullshit because she knows that you're pregnant and-"

"AND WHAT?!" I yelled.

"And that I'm obviously here for you." He talked to his feet.

My eyes rolled. "Fine, just go. I'll make my apt. and if I have to go by myself it's fine. It's only one appointment."

He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not going with her Sarah, it's NOT my baby."

My mom cleared her throat.

"We don't know that yet." I pointed out. "So just go an humor the bitch or else we won't hear the end of it."


	33. Chapter 32

**Queen of Hearts **

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 32**

Once we had arrived back in Vegas things started to seem to feel somewhat "normal" again, for a little while anyway. Criss left for California about a week later and I decided to go ahead and schedule my doctors appointment for around the same time. I knew he was going to be gone with Holly for the weekend and not be back until Tuesday night's show. I made an appointment for Monday at 3pm with a "highly recommended" gynecologist named Dr. Jean Keller located in a building kitty corner to the cities main hospital. Elaine came with me for moral support (_since mine was inconveniently supporting someone else_).

I was surprised to find out that at the end of the appointment Dr. Keller had confirmed that I was already nearing 7 weeks of my first trimester. Nearly two months? It couldn't have been two months already! I had JUST taken a test not too long ago. Dr. Keller insisted upon me starting prenatal vitamins and setting up another appointment for next month. She even said that at the next appointment me that she should be able to get me to hear the babies heart beat on the ultrasound. I was thrilled to say the least that everything was checking out perfect and that I was okay and the baby was healthy. However, I think that was first time reality truly sunk in that I was going to give birth in less than 7 months and with that new reality came nausea that wasn't due to morning sickness.

~*~

"Congratulations!" Cristo flashed a brilliant smile my way as he hair sprayed a dancer's up-do.

"Oh, thanks." I returned the smile as I sent Amanda off to change.

"So, have you and Criss thought of any names?" He questioned seriously.

I shrugged. "No, not really…"

"Just don't do something ridiculous like 'Blue Rain' or 'Desert Highway', all the celebrities are naming their children such horrid shit these days." He laughed.

The dancer in his chair agreed with nod and I chuckled. "Speaking of celebrities, where is he?"

Elaine rushed past me with a stack of papers tucked underneath her arm. "He's on his way, I just called him." She answered my question out of nowhere.

"Was his flight late or something?" My eyebrows stitched as I checked the mini clocked on my station.

"Traffic." She returned vaguely as she continued her way to his dressing room.

"Where are you going?" I asked following her.

"I've gotta have him sign these papers to release season 5 onto DVD and I also need to know what the hell he was wants me stock his fridge up with this week." Her eyes rolled as she pulled out a key to his room.

_I knew Elaine was now his "personal assistant" but I had no idea she even had a key to his dressing room…._

"I didn't know you had a key to his room?" I pointed out as I stepped inside and watched her set the papers on his end table.

She bit her bottom lip a bit anxiously. "Yeah, I have for awhile."

My arms attached to my hips. "_I _don't even one."

Elaine's eyes found the floor and she slowly muttered, "That sucks."

"What has been up with you lately? Ever since that whole wedding ordeal you and I haven't been the same… or rather ever since you became his 'personal assistant' you've been a bitch to me?" I tossed out.

She grew defensive and took a step away from me. "I have not! If anything I have been the only one supportive of you!"

I smirked. "Right, supportive… whatever. You've just been there. There is a difference of being a friend and just being _there_."

She sighed. "Well, maybe I am tired of kissing his ass just as much as you are! What if maybe Chester and I want a life to our own?"

I couldn't believe how she was acting and just shook my head. "Fine, if that is what you want… then just go off with Chester or what have you. I'm not like holding you here. I'm not going to be upset if you don't want to stay here with me. Do whatever makes you happy."

"Maybe I just will." She handed me the key and stormed off slamming the door behind her.

Criss walked in about 5 minutes later and found me slumped on the couch with my head inside of my hands.

"Hey I'm sorry I was stuck in traf… what's wrong?" He sat next to me, his hand rubbing my back.

"Well, I think Elaine just quit."

"What? Are you serious? Why?" He drilled.

"I dunno… she just like freaked out. She's been acting really strange lately with me and she said that she's tired of 'kissing your ass' and wants to be happy with Chester…" I sighed.

Criss stood up and paced around the room a bit. "That's fine if she wants to go off with Chester but she didn't need to feel like she had to kiss my ass. I hope she doesn't hate me. Am I really a dick or something?"

I shook my head. "How much were you having her do?"

He paused to think. "Well, pretty much everything Kristy used to do, besides the show aspect. So really only shit around the hotel like groceries and laundry, sometimes booking appointments when my management were too busy and delivering papers for me to read through and or sign from my stores and important documents that have been faxed. Things like that."

"Like I said before, I'll do it if she does in fact leave." I offered. "She did however leave a stack of things behind on the end table."

Criss made his way over and filed through the papers.

"Well, I just hope everything goes alright between the two of you, that is more important that anything. You two have been best friends for years."

I stood up and signaled for him to head toward the vanity so I could work on his hair.

"I agree. I will get to the bottom of this. Anyway, how was your time in California?"

Criss paused his signature on a document while I combed through his hair.

"It was alright. Holly is still doing fine. She's starting to look bigger. Overall, it was a waste of my time besides that fact that it was good to see her and catch up. And I learned a few things for when you are that far along but I would have rather been here with you."

I smiled. "I went to the doctor while you were gone Criss."

The papers shuffled again and he glanced at me in the mirror. "You… went without me?"

"Yeah, don't worry nothing exciting happened. I have to go in another month. Besides that what we planned on anyway, that you would go with Holly and I would go." I pointed out.

He frowned. "I just feel like shit."

_Maybe you should._

"I'm about 7 weeks along already." I said happily.

Criss spun around in the chair and shot me and my stomach a shocked look. "Get out!"

"Yeah, that's what I said." Laughing I kissed his forehead.

He tapped his foot a bit and replied, "7 weeks…. 7 weeks ago we were… so that had to be either when we were in Paris or just got back?"

I smirked. "I'm not too sure… we had a lot of good times in Paris."

He bit at his nails and drew in a shallow breath. "Yeah, like that one night on the patio."

My cheeks reddened. "Oh, yeah… can't forget that or that crazy maid."

Criss doubled over in laughter. "I think she was cussing us out in French."

"Oh well, maybe she learned something." I giggled as I set my comb down.

He flipped his watch over and eyed me rather sensually. "Hey, I still have a 45 minutes until I go on?"

My lips perked. "45 minutes, huh?"

"No French maids to disturb us either." He chuckled as he pulled me onto his lap causing the chair to swivel around.

"Guess it's a win-win, I'm on the ultimate birth control for next few months." I joked playfully as he kissed down my neck.

"I missed you while I was gone." He whispered as he tossed the stack of papers onto the vanity's counter top.

Turning to face him better I replied, "I missed you more."

I really didn't like the fact of having sex in the "office" but in a way it was a turn-on.

My eyes drifted amongst the scattered papers on the vanity as I arched my back and prepared myself for Criss. Resting my arms on the counter top I glanced in the mirror at him. His lips caressed down my back and I softly moaned as I braced myself for him to enter inside me. He slowly thrust deep between my legs and I begged for him to go harder trying to stay as quiet as possible. His hands dug into my hips and pulled me backwards against him causing me to gnaw at my own finger to stay hush. I let my head fall down into my arms for a moment and shut my eyes to savor the orgasmic feelings flowing throughout my body. When I lifted my head it took me a moment to realize that I had been staring at a familiar waxy envelope. Suddenly those orgasmic feelings disappeared and were replaced with fear.

_Dearest Criss, _

_You and your's now have but 1 week and counting. _

_TMA_

The letter dropped from my hands and I spun my head around to glance at Criss.

"Babe, stop…"

"Why? We still have like 15 minutes…" He paused with a confused look on his face. "Are you feeling okay, hun?"

I nodded with a sigh. "I'm fine, here just read this."

His eyebrows narrowed in anger as he read over the letter. "Well, you're right. That just killed the mood, mother fucker!"

**PS. SORRY IT TOOK ME SOOOO LONG TO UPDATE!!!! Hope you liked the chap!!! Oh course, please review.**

**Always,**

**Deppdependant**


	34. Chapter 33

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 33**

"This is getting outrageous, whoever guy is really needs to fuck off already." I sighed as I watched Criss zip his jeans up.

He nodded and ran a hand through his now not so perfect hair. "Whoever he is the question that my management has been working on all day and night and they are just as clueless we are."

My eyes turned the room over for my underwear. "Babe, where you did toss my panties at?" I questioned with a laugh.

He smirked and pointed towards the couch. "Here, I'll get them."

"Thanks. I don't know," I continued with the conversation. "If it isn't Kevin or Brandon then one of them has to be lying and there has too have been a 3rd copy that was made… that's my only guess."

"Hmm… a 3rd copy…"

Our thoughts were broken by a loud knock on the door.

"Criss, open up man! You are NOT going to believe this!" J.D. hollered.

My eyes widened over at Criss and he silently cussed. "Hold on a sec! I'm changing! I'll be out in like 5!"

The door busted up and J.D. muttered, "Give me a break, how many times have I seen you stark ass naked? This is important!"

I scrambled to hide behind Criss since I was still topless and J.D. raised his eyebrows at the awkward situation he had run in on.

"Seriously J.D.! You could have waited! What the hell is it?" Criss demanded as he tossed me my bra.

J.D. cleared his throat as he turned his back towards us to give me time to change. "Sorry, I didn't mean to ruin the moment guys. I just wanted to tell you that I just got word that David Blaine is here tonight."

"What?!" Criss nearly laughed. "What is that moron doing at my show? Shouldn't he be standing in a crowd somewhere freezing to death for 360 days or some other pointless bullshit?"

I chuckled as I mentally pictured an icicled David Blaine emerging through a crowd saying, _"I need a medic… I think I have brain freeze."_

"Yeah, he is here. One of the ushers just told me, he's in front row." J.D. replied with a smirk.

Criss shook his head. "I'll have to 'randomly' pick him for a MINDFREAK then…"

Sure enough J.D. was right. I sat in the back break room and watched in the monitors as Criss greeted the crowd. Only the first two rows were visible from the cameras point of view. It took me awhile to spot out David Blaine but when I did I nearly choked on the granola bar I was snacking on. Instead of his usual dark brown nearly buzzed cut hair he was now sporting a spikey bleached blonde look and he no longer had his classic 5 o'clock shadow. My heart leapt into my throat as I instantly made correlations between him and "TMA". It would be so much easier for David to pull off his tricks and actually understand Criss' journal. He was an equally famous magician for God's sake! He could easily pull off any of Criss' stunts and illusions if he had the directions in front of him. But that didn't prove that he did anything… maybe he just wanted to change his hair color, maybe he just wanted to see Criss' show… maybe he just wanted to…

"And I would like to point out to the audience that I have a very special guest tonight- David Blaine" Criss interrupted my thoughts on the monitor.

He walked down the stage and up David who seemed less than thrilled that he had been introduced to the audience that and was in their presence.

Criss extended his hand and David shook it. "Now, usually I don't do this… but tonight I thought I'd change it up a bit. Prior to me coming on stage, I found out that David would be here and I thought it would great for you all to see if I could MINDFREAK another master in magic, so what do you think David, are you up for it?"

David raised an eyebrow as Criss signaled for him to stand up. "Why not, give it a try?"

"Alright then, I want you to pick out a random audience member anybody you see that appeals to you in sort of way..." Criss instructed.

David scanned over the crowd and eventually picked a middle aged women with red hair and a bright sundress.

"And what's your name sweetheart?" Criss asked.

"Rose. Pleasure to meet you!" She gushed excitedly as her arms wrapped around his waist.

"Aw, thanks you too. Rose, what a pretty name… you know I have this odd feeling that somewhere you have a tattoo?" Criss questioned curiously.

Rose blushed as she let go of him. "I do… how did you guess?!"

Criss held out his hands and shrugged. "I tend to 'guess' a lot of things correct. Now, if this tattoo is what I am guessing it is… then I really want to try something, I think it will totally MINDFREAK Mr. Blaine over here." Criss turned back over to David and he scowled.

"David to me a favor and lift up the back of your shirt for me." Criss instructed.

"Come, here guys, get a shot of this… nice and close on the POV CAM so that everyone see this on the big screen…" Criss directed as David curiously took off his shirt causing a few girls in the audience to holler.

"Has anyone here ever seen a tattoo on a friend or family member and thought to themselves, 'man, you know I really wish I could get that same exact piece done one me'?" He asked the audience and they chatted for a few moments.

Rose leaned inward and watched as Criss placed his hand on David's upper back.

"I am getting a feeling Rose, that this tattoo you have is actually of a person?"

She reddened again from head to toe and let out a small giggle. "Yeah, you could say that."

Criss' hand shook a bit on David's back and he seemed to concentrate for a moment before he lifted his hand up and shouted the word, "NOW!"

Half of the audience clapped and half laughed hysterically. Rose seemed completely mystified and David flung back upright trying to creep his head around to see his back.

"Now Rose, is that your tattoo?" Criss asked.

Rose smiled and let Criss carefully unzip the back of her dress to reveal a detailed black and white tattoo on her upper right back. The tattoo was a portrait of Criss Angel and Hammie that matched perfectly to David's.

David crept his head around and took a peak of Rose's back. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!"

**Sorry it has taken me awhile to update! I am trying to get ready for my next trip to Vegas on the 26th! of OCT Yay! I will be staying at the Luxor again and seeing Believe for 2nd time 3rd row on the 27th!!! I cannot wait!!! Hope u enjoyed the chap, hopefully i will update again before I leave. **

**Always,**

**Deppdependant**


	35. Chapter 34

**Queen Of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 34**

As Criss was busy joking around with Mestro and flirting with Kayala on stage I decided to take matters into my own hands by calling Kevin.

"Hello?" He answered with a sigh.

"Be honest with me, did you sell more than 2 copies?" I cut straight to the point as I tore my eyes away from the stage monitors.

"What the hell Sarah, how many times are you going to ream me out for that? I thought this was already settled?" He snapped.

"Just answer the question Kevin… yes or no?" I replied.

"No, just two." And with that he hung up.

It took me a few moments before I gathered up enough gumption to call Brandon. I really didn't want to hear his voice again.

"Hey, look… I really hate to ask you this… but did you by any chance sell a copy of Criss' journal out to anyone?" I asked feeling guilty.

Brandon hesitated for a moment before he replied. "Why?"

"I'm curious that's all Brandon. I really need to know the truth… please just tell me?"

"No, I didn't but I suppose I could have been more honest in telling you who I bought it from." He sighed roughly.

"I thought you didn't know?" I snapped back quickly.

"I lied. I know. I just didn't want to get him in trouble, he's a good friend of mine Sarah."

"Who is it?!" I nearly yelled.

"Why don't you go ask Elaine…"

My mind started to flood over with the obvious that been laid before me for so long. I had been so naïve about it all. Kevin even informed me that the person he sold his other copy to was a musician. Why did I automatically have to link Brandon, what if Kevin and I really did have our first kiss to Linkin Park? Maybe I had been wrong. Maybe my memory had failed me. It was all too easy, too evident that Chester had to be behind it all. He even had the platinum blonde hair to match. I remember we all went out to dinner and Elaine commented that he was "rocking his hairstyle from the early 2000's again" and Criss and I cracked up while Chester shot us all an uncomfortable glare in response. What if he had conned Elaine into quitting? Maybe that's why she had been so uptight and distant with me lately? What if she knew about him being TMA? Was he even really TMA? Could this all just be another dead end?

Criss went out that night with J.D. to his new bar Flight and I decided to part ways to secretly investigate on my own. It was around midnight and I knew that Elaine and Chester would either be off in the casino or at a club. I still had my room key to their suite and I knew if worse came to worse I could always tell her that I "forget" something at their place again.

When I walked in nothing looked out of the ordinary. I felt horrible for snooping around my best friends bedroom and personal items. It made me feel like I was breaking a code of trust. When I got to Chester's nightstand I found a black schedule planner. It was booked marked and opened up to the present day. Highlighted in bold handwriting it read:** CRISS LETTER**

I flipped backwards several pages and found another bold inscription reading: **Magic 9pm Freemont St**

Again another: **CA Note/ street gig. 11pm**

My mouth dropped as I connected his notes with the dates and came to the realization that I was no longer just imagining things. I shoved his planner inside of my purse and hurried my way back down to the casino level of the Luxor. I didn't care what Criss was doing he had to know A.S.A.P.

My eyes spotted the back of J.D.'s shoulder length brown hair at a corner booth in flight. I wasn't surprised when I saw 3 of Criss's incognito body guards shuffling around the bars entrance trying to calm down the tourists that had gotten word that he was there.

"Over here hun!" Criss stood up and waved causing a girl in the casino to glance up from her slot machine and whisper to excitedly friend.

The flight bar was located directed in the middle of the casino more or less and was surrounded by some of Criss's custom made motorcycles in glasses decorative cases. The bar itself had more of an intimate and new age vibe.

Smiling I kissed his cheek and took a seat in between him and J.D.

"Surprised to see you here… I thought you were going to bed?" Criss wrapped his arm around my waist and my rested his head on my shoulder.

"No, I need to talk you…"

His head slowly lifted and he judged my eyes for a moment. "Alright, everything okay?"

"Depends on how you look at, I guess." I sighed roughly as I went to reach inside of my purse.

"Well, I need to talk to you as well. Elaine is about to head up here with Chester. I called her after the show. I really was disappointed to hear what all she said to you and I want to make sure that there are no hard feelings between the two of us and make sure that she really does want to leave and that she's not just saying that on a whim."

My hand froze on Chester's planner. "Oh… well, can you call that off?"

His eyebrows narrowed and J.D. shot me a confused glance.

"What's wrong?"

"Are you feeling okay?" J.D. added seeming to nod down towards my stomach.

My eyes rolled. "I'm fine! I just REALLY need to talk to you Criss."

"So talk… spit it out!" He laughed as he took a long sip of his patron.

"Okay… but this is a really bad time for all this. Chester… is… he's The Mystical Avenger."

J.D. slammed his drink down and narrowed his eyes at me, "You're kidding?"

I shook my head.

"What?!" Criss nearly chuckled. "Chester, no way!"

Before I could reply Elaine replied for me.

"What about Chester?" She said from behind us as the two of them came up the small set of stairs.

Chester pulled out a chair for Elaine and they sat down next to me and J.D.

"Nothing, Sarah was making a joke again about Chester's hair and saying how it had correlations to TMA. Right Sarah?" Criss tossed out.

I sighed. "Sure, whatever."

"Anyway, thanks for coming." Criss added.

Elaine nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier Sarah. I'm just ready to go start a separate life with Chester and I guess that sometimes I see the to two of you and I get a bit frustrated that that Chester and I can't go out and plan certain things because I am bogged down with your schedule." She glanced towards Criss.

"Yeah, I think the biggest thing is that I am going to be starting up a new tour next month with the band and we really don't want to be away from each other for that long. I think in respects to my schedule and yours its difficult." Chester explained.

My eyes rolled and I muttered, _What you mean a fucking magic tour._

"No I understand that completely. I just really hate to see you go and I didn't want you to walk off with hard feelings between us. I never meant to insult you in any way Elaine." Criss assured.

She smiled. "You really haven't Criss, you've been nothing but sweet and kind to me. That was horrible what I said earlier and I apologize."

Criss looked over at me as if he was waiting for me to say something but I remained silent and J.D. cleared his throat.

"Well, if you are in fact leaving then we will at least need have to have a party for you!" Criss exclaimed happily.

Elaine smiled and Chester wrapped his arm around her. "That's very sweet, maybe next Friday."

"Yes, one week… sounds great."

_One week… that reminded me of the note. _

My heart dropped and I started to panic.

"Sorry, guys… I'm going to head back up the room. I'm feeling sick. Glad everything is settled." I went to stand up but Criss grabbed onto my hand.

"Do you want me to follow?" He asked concerned.

I glanced at the security guards once more and back at Chester who was busy texting on his cell phone.

"No, I'll see you in a little while. I love you." And with that I kissed his forehead and headed off.

**~*Hey, Sorry once again a bit of a shorter chap. i hope u enjoyed it. Getting closer to finding out who TMA is! Yay! Sry it took so long to update! i had tons of fun in Vegas! Yay! I went and saw BeLIEve again it was awesome. Had the chance to eat porcorn and flirt with part of the cast LMFAO!!! I also saw Criss's family at dinner. I ate across them at the Luxor. It was his mom, J.D. & Costa, his cousin, and some other guy who looked familar from Criss's Twitter page! hahaha! JD looked like he was in a pissy mood though and when I went to approach him with my mom he kept giving us this look like he wanted us to stay away, Criss's mom however looked very sweet. We decided not to bother them since it was dinner and since JD looked so shitty. I dunno what was wrong with him. lol! All-in-all a great trip and a good show (although I will admit Criss's show was better in Jan. BEFORE he HIATUSED it).*~ **


	36. Chapter 35

**Queen Of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 35**

The last thing on my mind was food but from the nauseous feeling growing in my stomach it was the first thing on the baby's brain. I needed to eat something and fast.

_Granola bar… no…_

_Pop Corn… Blah…_

_Hmmm… Snickers! _

I smiled happily as I reached upwards into the cabinet and pulled out the candy bar. As my teeth bit into the chocolate I pulled out Chester's planner and set it neatly on the coffee table in the living room. My nausea subsided long enough for me to scarf down the Snickers and a bowl of Cereal.

Criss came barreling in at around 2am a little more tipsy than usual. His Misfit leather jacket was loosely slouching off of his shoulders and his eyes were heavy with lack of sleep.

"Hey, sorry… we all got to talking and then it was hell for me getting out of the bar, rumor spread like wildfire." He yawned as he ran a hand through his hair.

I shrugged as I shut the T.V. off. I had been watching a late night re-run of Supernanny. _Man, those kids were terrors._

"It's alright babe."

"You look dead yourself, Sarah. Why didn't you head off to bed?" He questioned seriously as he took a seat next to me on the couch.

My head found its way onto his thigh and I shut my eyes. "We needed to talk remember?"

Criss ran his hand down my cheek and replied, "Oh, yeah! Something about Chester, You were kidding right?"

Stretching my arm out awkwardly I reached for the book on the coffee table in front of me. "I wish I was." I said as I handed it over to him.

"What's this?" He asked curiously.

"It's Chester's planner. I found it in his nightstand. After watching you tonight with David I decided to call Kevin and Brandon and ask them if they had sold another copy to anyone. Instead, Brandon told me that he got his copy of your journal from Chester of all people. That makes perfect sense, remember, Kevin told me that the person he sold the other copy to was a musician because supposedly we kissed to their song, therefore it must have been Linkin Park…" I explained as Criss flipped through the book with wide eyes.

"This… can't be… I mean… he just… he's-" Criss trailed off as he read over Chester's handwritten dates and suspicious plans.

"This is outrageous! That explains everything, even Elaine…" Criss added enraged.

"My point exactly." I replied.

Before I knew it he slammed the planner back onto the coffee table and stood up so fast I hardly had enough time to pick up my head.

"What are you doing?" I asked with stitched eyebrows.

"I'm gonna go talk to this fucker." Criss nearly shouted as he made his way to the door.

I followed him in a hurry trying to grab the back of his jacket. "Babe, that's probably not a good idea, I mean, you've been drinking and-"

"And I'm FINE. This is bullshit Sarah, I'm not putting up this any longer." He retorted.

"She's my friend Criss… I don't want to start anything with her. I'm sure she isn't in on it. Can't this wait?" I nearly begged.

He sighed roughly and relaxed his stance. "Look, all I'm going to do is go talk to him. I'm just going to ask him about it and then I'm going to probably-"

He was interrupted by the doorbell and for a moment I felt relieved until he opened the door to reveal Chester himself standing in the hallway.

"Hey, sorry to bother you guys… but your brother left his cell phone in the bar."

Criss shoot me a quick glance and I shook my head.

"Oh, thanks. I'll be sure he gets it." He gathered the phone from Chester's hand and placed it inside his jacket pocket.

"Thanks again for being so understanding tonight, man. Maybe sometime you and me can go for a bike ride up to the dam?" Chester offered.

I swear I could hear Criss's knuckles crack from across the room. "Maybe… yeah."

"Alright, well you two have a good night then…" He waved and we both half smiled in response.

"_Maybe someday you can stop trying to kiss my fucking ass!_" Criss snarled as he slammed the door shut.

~*~

_The timer read 0:00 and my jaw dropped in horror as I saw the black figure strike the match. Skulls and roses were billowing all around the cathedral and suddenly I felt the heat of the flames growing closer to my face. _

"_Criss, run!" I screamed as I attempted to make my way past the pews and down towards the church doors. "RUN!" _

_The faceless figure was tormenting me as I tripped on the slippery rose petals and glanced desperately back at Criss. He seemed to be fighting with a pair of handcuffs and leg shackles. The figure kicked over another barrel and the flames spread so high I could no longer see the center of the church anymore. _

"_Criss! Forget it, it's over! Just run!" I cried out desperately as the fire engulfed between us. _

"Sarah! Wake up!" Warm hands caressed my cheeks as I struggled to find the realm of reality again.

"Criss?" I whispered.

"Yeah, it's me… I'm right here. You okay? You're crying." He pointed out with a worried gasp.

It took me a moment to discover that tears were coating my face but once I had I nodded, "Yeah, I'm alright. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." He laughed lightly. "You must have had a terrible nightmare, you were kicking me to pieces."

"I'm sorry… I've been having this same exact nightmare for months. I thought it was gone but I guess it came back… I don't know." I snuggled myself into the crook of his neck and drew in a calm breath.

"The same nightmare? Strange. Tell me about it?"

"It's creepy… it doesn't make any sense. It should be all done and over with now." I babbled.

"What?" He replied seeming more lost.

"Well, it started way back before your stunt with Oprah, I thought maybe I was just stressing out about that and the wedding and the like. Everything in it had so many correlations to your stunt that you were doing. It always starts off with me and you in a Catholic church and a priest handing me a timer, then there is this guy who's face I never can make out and he ends up starting the church on fire by tipping these barrels over. The barrels have both gasoline, skulls and rose petals in them. It's all so odd. This time you were handcuffed and leg shackled and I guess you were refusing to get out of the church until you escaped and I was begging you to just run but instead you stood there picking your locks and being burnt alive." I explained grimly.

His hand tightened around my back and I heard him pop his jaw. "I don't know what to say. That is all very detailed. It could be stress related. It could be many things rolled into one. One thing is for sure, that does sound like me… standing there wanting to finish the damned escape!" He tried to joke but I didn't find it at all funny so instead I dug my nails into his back causing him to groan.

"Ouch, Hey! Play nice! I was kidding! I wouldn't _purposely _burn myself to death. Come on! Who knows, it could very well be a premonition…" He pointed out rather nonchalantly.

"A premonition?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Sure, if you correlate it all together right. Maybe you are foreshadowing the future. It might not be in a church, the skulls might really be skulls and same with the rose petals, it could all be symbols for other things in life or if not a premonition, then other things that are on your mind. For instance, the dark figure could be the Mystical Avenger or it could be Holly, seeing as how you probably don't like her too much right now. Obviously, since it's dark and bringing me and you pain in your dream then it is someone who playing an antagonizing role in your real life." He explained through a yawn.

"That does make sense. Thank you. That's a better way of looking at it." My lips searched for his.

"Anytime."

"Goodnight, I love you." I rolled over onto my side bringing his arm with me.

"I love you more." He whispered.

As my eyes shut I thought over his words. I really had no idea why my nightmare decided to come back to haunt me. I just hoped that it wasn't a premonition and that it was only my subconscious trying to get the best of me.

**Thank you for the reviews, sry these last few chaps have been shorter! I will try to get a longer chap in here soon!!! **

**Always,**

**Deppdependant**


	37. Chapter 36

**Queen of Hearts **

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 36**

_Crawling in my skin _

_Consuming all I feel _

_Fear is how I fall _

_Confusing what is real_

The sounds of Chester's voice filled my eardrums as I fidgeted with the volume wheel on my I-pod.

_There's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface _

_Consuming/Confusing _

_This lack of self-control I fear is never-ending _

_Controlling/I can't seem_

_To find myself again My walls are closing in _

The desserts wind roared hard against my back as I strolled my way down Freemont Street and scanned my eyes along the sidewalk full of tourists. In truth I had no idea where I was going. I should have brought Criss with me to help me find where the exact location was but I knew that wouldn't have been a wise decision seeing as how there was a possibility that Elaine was in on it as well. For some reason, I was taking this TMA matter as a personal blow to our friendship already.

_[Without a sense of confidence and I'm convinced That there's just too much pressure to take] _

_I've felt this way before _

_So insecure_

Holding out Chester's planner in the blazing sunlight I raised an eyebrow and re-read over his handwriting.

**FREEMONT STREET 3PM! TMA**

Well, I knew I was on Freemont street that part was obvious. Only problem was that the damn street was miles long and I had no idea where a mock magician would go…

_Discomfort, endlessly has pulled itself upon me _

_Distracting/Reacting _

_Against my will I stand beside my own reflection _

_It's haunting how I can't seem..._

Feeling overwhelmed I cut my I-pod off, now completely 100% sure that was in fact THE song Kevin had been referring to. My legs began to burn the further I walked. I swear it had been over a mile and a half already. It was becoming a realization to me that maybe I was actually gaining baby weight. On that note, _damn I was hungry again_.

My cell phone blared off inside of my purse as I was about to stop along the way at a hot dog booth. Usually, hot dogs gag me. But that day it just sounded amazing.

"Hello?" I answered as I pulled out my wallet.

"Hey, it's me. Where are you at?" Criss asked sounding like he was in hurry himself. I could hear what sounded like his manager arguing in the back around.

"Oh, just taking a walk. Grabbing some lunch-" I paused to tell the hot dog man to hold the relish. "Where are you at?"

"Ummm… ugh, a meeting for some promotional shit. Just wanted to call and see how you are and tell you that I love you." He replied seeming a bit dubious.

Snatching up my hot dog I replied, "Okay? Well, I love you too. Is everything alright?"

"Fine, just fine. I gotta run though, we're about to start. I'll try not to be too late tonight."

"You can't be late, you've got a show!" My eyebrows stitched before I bit into my food.

Criss laughed uneasily. "I know, I mean… I'll try not to be late to the theater, I've been being late- WHATEVER! You get it. I've gotta go! Love you!" And with that he hung up.

Eventually, I found where TMA was going to "perform". It took me all I had not too laugh when I found out what he was doing and where he was doing it at. He was performing underneath the giant overhead T.V. monitors of Freemont street. The LED overhead street canopy covered over 5 football fields in walking distance. I had no idea what he was up to. All I knew was that he was going to be performing directly in the center of it. Worst of all, he was actually starting to grow a fan base. People were gathering by the minute to witness his "daring performance". I glanced down at my cell phone and read over the time: _**2:01pm**_.

I decided it would be a good idea to get a head start on finding a place in front of the growing crowd. As I made my way to the barricaded portion of the canopied sidewalk I noticed a familiar black vehicle zip past on the highway closely followed by two SUV's. It wasn't 15 minutes later until I saw nearly 10 body guards file out behind the barricades.

_Some meeting. _My eyes rolled as I followed Criss's shadow walking deeper past the right of the crowd.

Pulling my cell phone out again I called him.

_No answer._

Redial.

"Babe, I'm kinda busy right now…" He muttered.

"Yeah, okay. Some meeting. Look to your left!" I waved my arms out.

He glanced around awkwardly until he spotted me out and signaled his team my way.

"Some walk." He hung up with a sarcastic chuckle.

After I we had joined together we made our way up onto the sidewalk and stood collectively underneath the LED canopy. I waited while Criss and his management bickered with "TMA'S" body guard's and supposed "magic team". They droned on and on about lawsuits and paper work and copyrights. Personally, I just wanted to find out who the fucker was all ready. I could care less about who sued who just yet. The medium sized crowd was eating the drama up like chocolate cake. They all were trying to corral around the steel barricade to get a closer listen on the argument until Criss's body guards began to shoe them away. Right on the dot of 3pm The Mystical Avenger's management gave us all his apologizes that he was going to have to cancel his performance "due to a minor mishap in scheduling".

"A fucking mishap in scheduling! I'll show you a damned mishap in scheduling!" Criss threw his hands up at his management and pointed to TMA'S "Magic Crew". "Where is he at? Just tell me where he is?!"

A balding man in a casual suit shrugged and shot Criss a stern glance. "I'm not allowed to give you that information."

Criss glared at him angrily and attempted to draw in a rational breath but utterly failed. "I will find this mother fucker and when I do… I will see each and every single one of you assholes in court."

"Is that a threat Mr. Angel?" The man retorted as he drew in closer to Criss's eye level.

"No, that's a promise." Criss replied sharply.

My arm looped itself around Criss's elbow and I tossed TMA'S crew a nasty stare. "Come on hun, let's go…"

His lips placed a firm kiss on my forehead and he muttered, "It's okay. We know right where to find him anyway..."

_Here's hoping the coward didn't skip town._


	38. Chapter 37

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 37**

My stomach felt like it was literally in knots and not because I was hungry or nauseous. Criss was pounding so hard the door to Elaine's suite that I thought the hinges were going to break off any second.

"Jesus Criss, are you alright?!" She answered the door holding her chest like he had given her a heart attack.

My lips quivered into an apologetic half smile as her eyes judged mine.

"Not exactly, is Chester home?" He muttered roughly as his boot tapped against the hallway tile.

Her eyebrows raised in question. "He just got in… he was out at a meeting with a music producer."

"Can I speak with him?" Criss asked again more precisely.

Elaine shrugged. "Well, he's not _here_… he should be downstairs… I ugh, I think he's getting the mail from the mailroom at the moment. Do you want me to tell him that you dropped by?"

"Elaine, really… where is he?" I asked bluntly as I narrowed my eyes into hers with a stern look on my face.

She drew in a breath and reddened slightly in the cheeks. "I told you, the mailroom."

I wasn't buying it. "Seriously, we've been friends for how long… I can tell when you're lying! Give it up!"

Her eyes rolled. "I don't know what you're talking about…"

Criss folded his arms and shook his head. "That is shitty to lie to your 'best friend'…"

Elaine rested her head against the door and bit her bottom lip. "I seriously… I'm not lying. What is going on?"

"Oh, hey… what's up guys?" Chester peaked his head out of the foyer hallway of their suite. "Everything okay?"

Criss chuckled loudly and I dropped my jaw at Elaine. "Since when is the mailroom in your in suite?!"

Elaine attempted to slam the door in my face but Criss kicked it back open.

"Not so fast hun, send Chester out here!" He grinned sarcastically.

Her eyes closed for a moment seeming as if she wanted to escape the confrontation. "Fine… Chester!"

Chester came back to the door seeming a little too cheerful for the situation at hand.

"Hey! What's up?" He asked with a smile as Elaine squeezed past him and disappeared further into their suite.

"Why don't you tell me?" Criss asked seriously.

Chester shrugged appearing to be confused. "What do you mean?"

Criss tapped his foot and signaled for him to come out into the hallway. I took that as my cue to address Elaine inside.

I found her in her bedroom pulling out a suitcase from the closet.

"Hey… what are you doing?" I asked curiously as I took a seat on the bed.

"Packing." She replied shortly.

"Obviously. Why so soon? I thought you weren't leaving until next week…"

"Just getting a head start, I guess." She muttered nervously as she quickly threw the suitcase on top of the empty bed side next to me.

Then it all hit me. Suddenly a million puzzle pieces seemed to connect together in my mind so fast that I could hardly focus on the end result.

"You aren't planning on hurting him are you?" I questioned out of the blue.

Elaine paused her packing and glared at me with a shocked expression.

"Hurting who?"

"Criss."

"What are you talking about?" She nearly laughed.

"It was you along, wasn't it?" I asked bluntly. "Seriously… here I've been thinking it was Chester and Brandon… and Kevin… but it's been you."

Elaine sighed and took a seat next to me. "I suppose you're right and I suppose that's why I'm packing."

"And I _suppose _you're the biggest back stabbing bitch I know!" I yelled as I stood up.

"Well, you are right… Kevin, Brandon and Chester aren't so innocent as well either. I was the one who gave Kevin the key to break into your place, then I was the one who gave Chester the idea to rip off Criss's illusions. So I guess I'm just the brain of it all. Personally, I think that Criss is an okay guy. I'm really just sick to my stomach that ever since we've came here, which by the way was ALSO my idea, I've been fucked. I've had the love of my life die because of your boyfriend's fucked up ex-wife, I've had someone cheat on me, I've nearly been poisoned myself and oh, not to mention now I get to be Criss's bitch 24/7/365... While you and him sail off into the damned sunset! So, quite honestly yeah… nothing personal but I want get the hell out of this place and who cares if I cash out along the way!" She fumed.

_That was all it took for me to "Lindsay Lohan" her ass._

The second my fist rammed itself against her jaw I felt Criss's arms attach themselves to my waist and tug me backwards.

"Come on, settle down." He muttered into my ear as Elaine cursed frantically at me.

"Fuck you bitch! Forget anything between us!" Her eyes welled as she rubbed at her jaw.

Mocking her through a laugh I struggled with Criss's grip. "Fuck me?! Please, you slaughtered our friendship months ago apparently… what a joke!"

Criss hesitantly let me go and cleared his throat. "Elaine, I'm just letting you of the fact that Chester's currently outside in the hallway having a not so friendly chat with 4 cops so you might not want to pack that bag just now."

Elaine brushed past us with a huff and ran out the door in a hurry.

Chester was leaned up against the hallway wall handcuffed with his head hung low. It didn't take me too long to realize that Criss and him had also gotten into it as well. Chester would definitely have a black eye for a few weeks. The cops asked us all for a report of what happened verbatim. Supposedly, they kept saying that Chester was acting like he was intoxicated. Even I knew that he wasn't and I thought it was a bit ridiculous. The entire interrogation they made him take a sobriety test and searched his suite for any open alcohol. An hour of endless questions later they decided that no charges could be pressed since both Chester and Criss had initiated the fight. Instead, they insisted that by tomorrow night they relocate to a different hotel.

When we got back to our suite Criss slammed the door and smiled.

"I got the journal."

"What?" I questioned.

"Yeah, I got the copied/re-copied again journal… I hired those cops, come on, that sobriety test was bullshit! I made them make up some shit so they could search the suite for it, now we have proof of fraud. All we have to do is say that you found it there instead of them." He waved the journal around happily.

"That was brilliant!" I grinned widely.

"Shit! Fuck me running! What time is it?!" Criss exclaimed as he hustled his way into the bedroom nearly tripping over Hammie.

"It's 6:25pm!" I yelled.

"What! Oh my God! We've gotta go! I've got a freakin' half hour!" I heard the toilet flush and I rolled my eyes.

"I wasn't going to say anything." I watched as he leaped over the couch in a hurry and ran back to the door.

"Oh crap, I forgot… Tonight after the show, I'm supposed to go out to PURE with Sully and Carrot Top. Man, I'm loosing my head… I think I'll cancel. How about you and I stay in?" He asked as we headed to the elevator.

"I'd like that a lot. We haven't stayed in together in a long time." I smiled as I kissed his cheek.

Nothing made me more excited that doing absolutely nothing with Criss.

"Boring… infomercial, lame, seen it… infomercial again…" I talked to the T.V. as Criss opened up a bag of Pretzels and set them on the couch between us.

"I think I've literally eaten a house today." I laughed as I popped a pretzel in my mouth.

"Better than the Luxor." Criss joked dryly and I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not big on Egyptian food." I cracked.

He laughed and pulled me up against his chest. "I bet that baby doesn't care what it is."

"Oh trust me… it cares. I'm finding that out the hard way. I used to eat ice cream all time, now it makes me puke. Also, pickles… obviously, it hates pickles. I love them." I sighed as I ran my hand down my stomach.

Criss lifted up my shirt and slipped my pajama pants down a bit bellow my waist line.

"Hmmm… that's interesting…" He pointed out as his hand gently pressed against the side of my lower belly.

"What?" I leaned forward looking downwards at his hand.

"Right here, it's harder than the rest of your stomach…" His fingers massaged against my skin and I smiled.

"That's where the baby is sitting."

"Really?!" Criss looked both shocked and intrigued.

"Really." I grinned. "It moves around at least once a day I'd say. I never really notice it too much."

"That is so cool! I can't believe its like right there…" He leaned down and planted a kiss beneath his hand.

Running a hand through his hair I murmured, "I love you."

"I love you both." He delivered me another kiss only that time to my lips.

"We are going to get married right?" Criss asked out of nowhere.

"Eventually." I replied as I snuggled back against his chest.

He sighed roughly and I could tell that wasn't the answer he wanted to hear.

"Eventually as in a year from now or eventually as in when we're both in walkers?"

"Eventually as in when you stop pulling ex-wives and baby mamma's out of your ass." I retorted.

"That was shady."

"It's true." I pointed out.

"Whatever. We need to start thinking about what is best for the life we are bringing into this world. Even if that baby is Holly's, I don't want to be with her, I want to be with you. You know that." He replied.

"If the baby is Holly's… then we are over that much you can count on." I assured.

"So, if it is mine… what will happen with ours?" He questioned seriously.

A lump formed inside of my throat and I couldn't reply. Instead I wrapped my arms tighter around his body and buried my head deep into his shoulder.

"Did you hear me?" He asked.

"Yeah… Yeah… just, I don't want to talk about this right now." I muttered.

His hand rubbed down my back and he replied, "Alright. But we need to talk about it sooner than later."

He was right, we did. What would happen? What would we do? Would I forgive him? Could I really leave him if it was in fact his baby that Holly was carrying? What would I do if I left him? Would I want our child to grow up in a split up family like mine? When would I finally trust him enough to marry him? Or did I actually trust him enough already?

**~*Thanks for the Reviews, please keep them comming (: Yay I finally got a longer chap out lol!! (or at least a tad longer than the ones I have been posting) I hope you all are still enjoying it so far!*~**

**Always,**

**Deppdendant**


	39. Chapter 38

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel to Lucky 13**

**Chap. 38**

Turning my body slightly to the left I noticed through half silted eyes that the alarm clock read 2am. The bed was empty beside me except for a scrunched up pillow and a tangled cell phone charger. I slowly made my way into the living room and found Criss around the corner pacing the kitchen with his phone glued to his ear.

"Alright, I'll be there as soon as I can… is she picking you up? Okay, good. Yes, I promise. I'll call you when I get to the airport. Hang in there." He hung up with a loud sigh.

"What's going on?" I questioned curiously.

He jumped a bit as he turned around seemed startled at my presence. "It's Holly… she's going into labor."

My eyebrow lifted. "So soon? She still has 2 more months?"

Criss nodded as he flew past me and back into the bedroom. "I know. I'm worried. The doctors have been telling her that she hasn't been gaining enough weight. They warned her of this her last check up. I hope the baby's okay."

My heart dropped. "Me too…" I actually wasn't lying. I did really care…

"I've gotta fly out there. Sorry so late of notice. I'll keep in touch." He pulled a bag out of his closet that he seemed to eternally keep packed and quickly ran into the bathroom to throw his toiletry items inside.

"What, wait… I'm not staying here. I'm coming with you." I folded my arms rather dramatically against my chest.

He shot me a sarcastic look and shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea Sarah. Holly's going through a lot right now and-"

"And what? I'll behave. I'll wait outside or something. Look, I'm not THAT shallow that I'm going to start shit while she's prematurely giving birth come on give me a break!" I rolled my eyes.

His foot rapped against the floor and I could tell he was fighting the decision over in his mind. "No, I want you to stay here… really… please."

"You know, that makes me feel like you are hiding something even more but if that's what you want then I will. I suppose it's not my place." I angrily sat back down on the bed.

"That's exactly it. It's just not your place. I'm sure you don't want her around when our child is born?" He retorted.

"True enough." I shrugged.

"I have to go. I love you just trust that if nothing else. I'll call you when I get there." He leaned down and gently kissed my forehead.

Wrapping my arms around him I replied, "Tell her I wish her the best, I really do mean that."

"I will. At least I get a practice run." He tried to joke but I remained stern.

"Hey… I said I love you?"

"I love you too. Be safe." I finally returned as I crawled back into bed.

~*~

The Next Morning

It was the beginning of December and I knew I needed to get some of my holiday shopping done. I had no idea where to start or who to start with. Come to think of it, I still had to get Criss a birthday present. _Shit. Hopefully it wouldn't be 43 reasons as to why I was going to kick his ass. _Usually, I loved Christmas shopping but that morning I was so stressed about Holly I couldn't find my way in and around stores without forgetting what I even walked into them for in the first place. It was horrible. By mid-afternoon I had only crossed two people off of my gift list which was my mom and dad. They were easy to shop for. My mom always loved new kitchen gadgets and my dad liked anything with Harley Davidson plastered across it. For a fleeting moment I thought about getting Brandon something for Christmas and then I shook the mere gesture out of my brain. Obviously, Elaine and Chester had already more than crossed themselves off my list. Criss and I always both went in on Sully and the cast and crew of Believe. However, I did need to pick up holiday gift cards for my cousins and a few things that were easy to package to my girlfriends friends back home. As I walking through the mall I spotted out FAO Schwarz which a more than huge toy store. I decided to go in and a take a quick look around. It was there that I found the most epic birthday present for Criss ever.

"I'll take that right there…" I pointed it out to the salesman.

"I'm sorry, that's not on sale it's just for display." The salesman replied with a chuckle.

"Not even for $2,000?" I offered.

He shook his head. "No, really display only ma'am."

"$5,000 cash."

His green eyes bugged into saucers. "Seriously…"

"Dead serious." I grinned.

"It's yours. I mean… it might take a few days disassemble."

"As long as you can have it shipped to the Luxor by the 19th then my offer stands." I stated.

"I can have to the Luxor and reassembled for the same amount by Friday night." He smiled widely as he walked me over the register.

"No worries, I can handle that part myself. Thank you though."

Right as I was leaving the mall my cell phone blared off.

**-I new picture message-**

After the picture had downloaded I nearly dropped the phone. There was Holly holding the cutest and tiniest baby in her arms wrapped tightly in a blue blanket. But to my shocking surprise, the baby was half African American. Below the picture was a text reading:

**WE DON'T NEED MAURY FOR THIS ONE BABE! **


	40. Chapter 39

**Queen of Hearts**

**Sequel To Lucky 13**

**Chap. 39**

**~*December 19th*~**

Suddenly things seemed as if they were starting to mend themselves back together into some kind of known normalcy again. When Criss had come home from the hospital he made an oath, more to himself than me, that he was going to officially cut ties with Holly. He had finally come to the conclusion that she wasn't over him yet.

_I had figured that one out a long time ago… without the whole baby daddy stunt. _

I felt so much better knowing that I could trust him again. Although part of me felt like I had personally let him down since I had even doubted his word in the first place. Now with the whole Holly situation gone and out of the way the two us felt as if we could focus on more time on us and our soon to be family.

Criss's management were in the process of filing one the hugest lawsuits on Chester and Elaine I had ever since in my life and as far as I knew they were far away from Vegas. If anything "TMA" was a mere drop in Las Vegas' "has been" bucket list of washed up magic careers. Nobody seemed to mind his absence or even realize it for that matter. Even though it was a horrific stab in the back sometimes I would miss Elaine. I often wondered if Chester had sparked her intentions on sabotaging Criss and I instead of it being the other way around. It was difficult for me to wrap my head around the fact that my best friend had betrayed me so badly. I suppose more or less it was mostly difficult trying to fill the fresh void in my heart.

~*~

"That was crazy! I can't believe that Perry and Maestro nearly downed that entire fucking thing of Patron by themselves!" Criss shot me a crooked glare as he put his Lamborghini in park.

"I hope they're alright!" He ended with a chuckle.

My arm reached across dash and patted his thigh. "I hope so too! Hey thanks again for not drinking tonight… I know it's your birthday."

"Drinking isn't what matters to me. I'm lucky enough to have spent more than 15 minutes with you today, that's what's important."

Criss had decided that since I couldn't drink anymore since I was obviously pregnant he wouldn't have anything that night at the club either. I thought that was thoughtful of him, although sitting at the VIP table all night watching everyone else get drunk was a bit overrated.

"You ready to call it a night? I'm sure you're exhausted…" Criss asked as he helped me out of the car but I caught him off guard by pulling his signature Mindfreak bandanna out of his back pocket.

"I'm not THAT tired, besides… you still one more present."

~*~

"Babe, seriously… where are we going?" Criss asked excitedly as I drug him by the hand through the lobby of the Luxor.

"You'll see… in about 5 minutes." I replied with a small chuckle as I readjusted his bandanna blindfold to make sure he wasn't peaking. FAO Schwarz had done exactly as they had promised and shipped his present in time. Little did I know, it would take me 2 whole days to assemble. Hopefully, the present was well worth it.

As I directed him up the escalator to the main floor a few fans stopped dead in their tracks and one raised an eyebrow over at me.

"Getting your holiday mindfreak on early tonight?" A tall middle aged man laughed.

I smirked and Criss tilted his towards the sound of his voice. "Hopefully!"

"Hey!" I playfully slapped Criss on the ass and ignored the group of girls that were snapping off photos of the two of us.

"Damn, that's not the surprise?!" Criss pouted jokingly as we turned the corner to the theaters main entrance.

"Not tonight." I replied sarcastically.

"What is it then? Just tell me?!" He begged as I lead him down into the dark theater and past the stage.

"We're almost there, I promise. You know… You're worse than a little kid!" I said as I unlocked his dressing room door.

Criss started to become antsy and rolled onto the balls of his feet. "Come on! You know I hate surprises!"

"Okay, I give up." I replied as I reached behind him and untied his blindfold.

"Happy birthday!"

It took him a moment to respond. Actually, a few moments._ A few too many…_

"Do you like it?" I asked nervously as I watched him approach the giant train set.

I had assembled it so that the tracks were wrapping around the top of the walls in the room. In all actuality the train set was built for a larger room so I had to create "hills" for more of winding appearance. Personally, I thought it was awesome. It even had actual steam for the engines and lights for everything, even ornate trees!

"Oh my God… this is insane! I can't believe you got this!" He stammered happily as he examined the walls, finding small pieces and cable cars intriguing along the way. "Where did you get this? How did you know I wanted this?!"

"I have my resources." I grinned widely. "Besides, now you have something to occupy you while you sit with bleach on your head."

Criss laughed. "Very true! Those 25 minutes really do suck…"

"And," I moved in closer to him and grabbed his hand. "There's something I have to tell you…"

His eyebrows narrowed downward at my serious tone.

Holding out an ultrasound photograph I continued, "I went for my ultrasound again yesterday while you were with your management… we're having a girl."

Criss took hold of the photo and quietly gasped. "A… girl? Seriously!"

"Seriously. I wanted to wait to tell you as a birthday present. I thought it was more special this way." I explained.

His eyes welled up a bit as he gazed down me. "I can't believe it… I'm so excited! This was well worth the blindfold. Come here, I love you." He wrapped his arms tightly around me.

"I love you too, Criss."

There was a long moment of content silence between us until Criss cleared his throat and reached into his back jean pocket.

"You know," He started apprehensively. "I was going to wait to do this until Christmas actually, but I see no point in delaying it anymore…"

His hand opened between us to expose my old engagement ring. "Please Sarah, just say you will for all three of us?"

My eyes locked down at his shaking hand and then drifted back up into his brown eyes. I knew that it probably was abnormal that I wasn't over thinking my answer or second guessing myself. I knew that it was completely uncharacteristic of me to not be nervous or apprehensive of the futuristic outcome he was presenting but finally for once my head was clear. Immensely clear at that. At last it felt like I could give him a 100% legitimate answer.

Placing my hand on top of his I leaned inward and planted a soft kiss on his forehead. "I will. I do."

"You promise? No mind changing this time?" Criss questioned seriously.

"I promise, forever." I assured honestly as I watched him slide the familiar engagement ring comfortably past my knuckle.

**NOTE: SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO UPDATE! BEEN WORKING A LOT AND BUSY! I HOPE U ENJOYED THIS CHAP PLS REVIEW, I WASN'T TOO SURE ABOUT IT THIS ONE!!! THANKS!**

**Always,**

**Deppdependant**


	41. Chapter 40END

**Queen Of hearts**

**Sequel To Lucky 13**

**Chap. 40**

**~*January*~**

_Dad,_

_You are __ONCE AGAIN__invited. I'll see you there! _

_I love you!_

_Sarah_

I chuckled a bit as I boldly underlined the words "once again" on the wedding invitation. My mind thought back a year ago when I was so uneasy about even sending the first one out. Things were so much different now. They were so much easier. Criss and I decided that since we had gone all out on the first "wedding" that this time we would coordinate something much more simple and only have our closest relatives present. We had a date set at the Nevada courthouse on February 17th. We both decided that we wanted to be wed before the birth of our daughter, Carmela Lynn who was set to be due on April, 5th.

As I sealed the last of the few invitations I noticed that I had received a new text message.

**1 New Message from Brandon**

**-Hey, check your email… I was thinking about you today.-**

It took me a moment to log onto my account and filter through my emails but once I found his I raised an eyebrow at what the subject header was.

_**Can't find a Better Man**_

I released a pathetic laugh as I opened the message and began reading. _Seriously, he needed to get over me already._

_Sarah, _

_Hey, I recently heard through the grape vine today that you and Criss are going to be getting married… again. At first, to be honest, I was pissed off and a bit let down but of course, I'm sure you could have already figured that one out. Then I thought back to when you were staying with me and all the irreplaceable fun times we shared together (like the time we fought over the bed or the time you put bubble bath in the Jacuzzi lol!). I got to thinking and reminiscing and I found myself pondering over the nightmares you used to have about Criss. Anyhow, as my mind was running over this random bullshit I came to the conclusion that was always right there in front of me or rather in front of you. Click the link below, the song explains everything. Honestly, I wish you two the best. _

_Love, _

_Brandon_

The HTML link brought me to a blank video on You Tube. It was in fact a song by Pearl Jam (surprisingly not Incubus) ironically titled "Better Man".

_Waitin', watchin' the clock, it's four o'clock, it's got to stop_

_Tell him, take no more, she practices her speech_

_As he opens the door, she rolls over...Pretends to sleep as he looks her over_

_She lies and says she's in love with him, can't find a better man..._

_She dreams in color, she dreams in red, can't find a better man..._

_Can't find a better man_

_Can't find a better man_

_Ohh..._

_Talkin' to herself, there's no one else who needs to know..._

_She tells herself, oh...Memories back when she was bold and strong_

_And waiting for the world to come along..._

_Swears she knew it, now she swears he's gone_

_She lies and says she's in love with him, can't find a better man..._

_She dreams in color, she dreams in red, can't find a better man..._

_She lies and says she still loves him, can't find a better man..._

_She dreams in color, she dreams in red, can't find a better man...Can't find a better man_

_Can't find a better man_

_Yeah...She loved him, yeah... she don't want to leave this way_

_She feeds him, yeah... that's why she'll be back again_

_Can't find a better man_

_Can't find a better man_

_Can't find a better man_

_Can't find a better... man... _

I must have literally replayed the song three times before I actually started to break down and hysterically cry. To be honest, I had heard the song millions of times before but suddenly it made perfect sense to me. I could relate to it on so many levels. It reminded me of Brandon and me and the mistake I had made against Criss, it reminded me of so many pointless relationships I had been in in the past like Kevin. But most of all it reminded me that that I really couldn't find a "better man" than Criss. I had always thought of that song as so depressing and just seen in from one blind angle but now it was completely different. It enlightened me. Suddenly, my nightmares made perfect sense.

I had been so afraid of a forced commitment in our relationship and an unhealthy and unstable future. It was obvious as to why there was a church in my dream and a priest, I was scared to death of a failed marriage. The timer was simple, Criss and I were always fighting about age and pressure from the media because of the difference. I was certainly always thinking about that and the fact that he wasn't "getting any younger" and I had always felt the need to speed things along. The unidentified person trying to harm Criss was because… well, for the past 2 years there was always someone trying to sabotage us in some way or another. Whether it be his ex-wife, my ex-lover, or my best friend, someone always seemed to want to stab us back for some bullshit reason and if not that than Criss was always trying to up his own gruesome ante.

I was ready now, fully capable of handling all of those nightmarish demons head on. I craved commitment. I wanted a family. I no longer cared how big of an age gap there was between the two us, it no longer was an issue. Personally, I wouldn't have cared if I was 20 and Criss was 50... I would still be walking into that courtroom in February. I loved him for him and he loved me for me. We had struggled through too much shit for me to ever doubt myself again. And no matter how high his mystical or death defying ante was I was willing to gamble right along side him. I was his queen of hearts and he was king and together anything was possible if we just _believed_.

-END-

**NOTE: THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS READ BOTH "LUCKY 13" AND "QOH"!!! **

**I HAD SO MUCH FUN WRITING THIS! **

**AS ALWAYS, EVERY WRITER CRAVES REVIEWS, SO PLS REVIEW ME! **

**THANKS AGAIN FOR READING AND ALSO, THANKS AGAIN TO MY "LOYAL READERS" WHO STUCK THROUGH SO MANY, MANY CHAPS! LOL!**

**PS: TO THOSE OF YOU WHO ALSO READ "BLURRED REALITY" I WILL BE UPDATING THAT SOON! **

**3 ALWAYS,**

**DEPPDEPENDANT**


	42. PART 3!

**Attention all Lucky 13/Queen of Heart Readers I have just posted the third installment of the series, _Three of a Kind._ I am currently writing this story on request only. There is a poll in my profile, if you would like me to continue with this story then please vote "Yes", if not then vote "No. If I get 10 votes then I will continue permanently with the story until it is complete. Thank you!!!**

**Always,**

**Deppendant**


	43. Grammar Note

**NOTE:**

** Recently, I have gotten reviews on Lucky 13 and Queen of Hearts on how many grammatical errors I had in each chapter and how "unreadable" it was because supposedly these readers could not enjoy the story due to them. First of all, I do not know how to get a Beta Reader. Nor am I really all that interested in obtaining one. Second, I DO proof read every single chapter that I write. Thank you very much! I am human. My eyes get lazy just like everyone else. I type almost 85 words per minute and I'm sorry if I mistype simple words but sometimes Microsoft Word fucks up on its own and will actually change a word as I'm misspelling something and I will not notice it in my proof. However, I will admit I am a terrible speller. Lol!**

**I apologize for how many grammatical errors there are in my stories… but I honestly never thought that it was THAT bad. I have read so many fan fictions that aren't even in correct writing form and don't even have fucking sentence structures. Come on people! SERIOUSLY! If I spell "were" wrong and it's supposed to be spelled "We're" in a sentence I think that you can probably add two and two together…. Or if I spell "You're" and it's really meant, "Your"…**

**Also, if you are going to flame me for my grammaticism then please learn how to spell your own words correctly in your reviews because you really just made a complete asshole out of yourself.**

**I would to also like to note, that all of my characters are FICTIONAL. Get real… even though Criss Angel is a real life person, he is FICTIONAL in my stories. That is why it is called Fan FICTION. So, technically if I wanted to write that Criss Angel had wings growing out of his back, I could. I don't think that my main O/C in the Lucky 13 series is a "Whinni bitch with Bipolar syndrome", because if she was then I highly doubt I would be getting requests for a 3rd installment. That review was childish and very rude. My own mother suffers from being bipolar. People seriously need to watch how fluently they use that term.**

**Anyhow, seeing as how I did get a few reviews saying that my stories were difficult to read, if any of you feel the same way then please let me know. I do like constructive reviews. I will try to work harder on proofing my chapters from here on out. I'm sorry if any of my work in the past has been an eye sore.**

**Always,**

**Deppdependant**


	44. STEALING MY WORK!

**VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:** It has been brought to my attention recently that my Criss Angel stories are being posted on both personal sites and largely based fanfiction sites without my knowledge or consent without first doing so. Let me first start off by saying thank you for enjoying them so much that you'd want to use them as your own or copy them for further use. I would be more than happy to allow you use of them if asked and if proper props were given in my name. However, I it took me YEARS to write these stories and a lot of thought and creativity. I WILL NOT tolerate plagiarism of any kind! I take my writing very seriously (even my fanfiction). To me its pointless to simply go about and "copy-paste" someone else's hard work and claim it as your own! Thank you so much to my fans on this site who have taken the time and effort to point out to me what has been done! My Lucky 13 story is being posted on Mibba under the SN: Miss Kat. If you have a Mibba account please be aware of this person... it's not me! Thank you so much and as always thank you for reading!

-Deppdependant-


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